title: Epidemiology and surgical management of breast cancer in gynecological department of Douala General Hospital.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Breast cancer is one of the most common gynecological cancers in our environment. Douala General Hospital (DGH) is one of the two main centers in Cameroon, where the cancerous patient can receive multidisciplinary management including radiotherapy.
  
  
  METHODS
  The aim of our study was to describe the epidemiological, clinical profile and surgical management of patients with breast cancer in gynecological department of DGH.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 42 patients were recruited in our department within a period of 3 years (from November 2006 to October 2009). The mean age was 46 years (range: 29-73 years). Characteristics of our study group were as followed: female sex (100%); breast feeding (95.245%); familial history of breast cancer (7.14%); 14.29% of patients were nulliparous and 19.05% primiparous. The main mode of discovering the disease was auto examination (92.86%). The clinical tumor size ranges from 2cm to 20cm with a mean of 6.83cm. Patients were then mostly diagnosed at stage III (54.76%) of the WHO classification. Only 2.38% were diagnosed at stage I. The main method of diagnosis was breast fine needle aspiration. Neo adjuvant treatment was administered in 78.57% of patients and the main surgical treatment was mastectomy (92.86%). Many patients are still followed up (59.52%), but we already had a mortality rate of 14.29% at the end of December 2010. We had no feedback for 26.19% of the study group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Breast cancer is generally diagnosed in advanced stage in our milieu; there is therefore a need for generalized sensitization of the population.
authors: Obstetrics and Gynecology Department, Douala General Hospital, Cameroon.
authors: Charlotte Tchente
authors: CT
authors: Nguefack
authors: Martin Essomba
authors: ME
authors: Biwole
authors: Annie
authors: A
authors: Massom
authors: Jacques Tsingaing
authors: JT
authors: Kamgaing
authors: Theophile Nana
authors: TN
authors: Njamen
authors: Gregory Halle
authors: GH
authors: Ekane
authors: Thomas Egbe
authors: TE
authors: Obinchemti
authors: Eugene Belley
authors: EB
authors: Priso
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000601:surgery*; D002163:Cameroon / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006176:Gynecology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006748:Hospital Departments / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006769:Hospitals, General / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008408:Mastectomy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D010298:Parity; D011247:Pregnancy
keywords: Breast; Douala; cancer; epidemiology; surgery