Suspicious and malignant features on mammogram among women in a group of communities within south east Nigeria

Abstract

Introduction: Mammography services are not widely available in Nigeria due to inadequate numbers of mammography machines and shortage of the relevant skilled personnel. However, diagnostic and screening mammography was recently introduced at centre near Onitsha in south-east Nigeria to serve the immediate catchment area and surrounding communities. Objective: To determine the prevalence of suspicious findings and features suggestive of breast cancer (BIRADS categories 4, 5 and 6) among mammograms for women presenting at mammography imaging centre. Methodology: Retrospective study reviewing mammograms done at the Iyienu Mission Hospital between January 2013 and December 2015. Final BIRADS Categorization in line with the BIRADS lexicon was reported based on mammography findings and clinical history for each subject. Results: Mean age of study population was 49.1 years ±8.1. Mammographic findings for five percent of subjects were categorized BIRADS 4, while one (0.2%) was categorized BIRADS 5, and four (0.7%) were BIRADS Category 6. The proportion of cases within each age group categorized BIRADS 4 - 6 was 10.1% among subjects aged less than 40 years (p-value 0.19), 5.2% for subjects aged between 41 and 60 years (p-value 0.12) and 10.0% among subjects aged greater than 60 years (p-value 0.32). Conclusion: Study findings suggest higher prevalence of suspicious and malignant findings among the elderly, as well as young women. Future re-assessment of findings desirable using larger sample size. Initiatives for enlightenment on the relevance of cancer screening methods should target middle aged and elderly women, as well as younger women, especially those at risk.

Keywords

• breast
• malignant
• mammogram