The Pathological Stage at Diagnosis of Breast Cancer in Ghanaian Women: A Retrospective Study at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital Accra (2001 to 2014)

Background: Published data on breast cancer (BC) in Ghanaian women have not look at the relationships between pathological stage at diagnosis and the other clinico-pathological features. The aim of this study was to describe the relationships between the stage at diagnosis of BC in Ghanaian women and the effects on the other tumours variables.

Material and Methods: We reviewed and pathologically staged (I – IV) 1,317 BCs in our institution. Data were collected on the clinico-pathological features of females diagnosed with BC, entered and analysed using SPSS version 23 (Chicago).

Results: A total of 1,317 (30.4%) out of 4,336 BCs were pathologically staged using the TNM method and 57.4% were of high stage. The mean ages at diagnosis of BC for TNM stages I – IV were: 50.6, 53.3, 51.0 and 52.2 years respectively. The proportions of women aged less than 40 years for stages I – IV were; 15.6%, 16.0%, 18.3% and 18.8%. Women in all the stages presented after 3 months (late) of noticing the swelling. Skin involvement and high histological grades were commoner in stage IV. The frequency of positive tumour margins and the mean number of positive lymph nodes increases with increasing stage at diagnosis.

Conclusion: Women in this study were found to have high pathological stages of BC at diagnosis. The proportions of women less than 40 years old were higher in stages III - IV. Skin involvement, number of positive lymph nodes and positive tumour margins were found to increase with increasing pathological stage at diagnosis.