title: Characteristics of incident female breast cancer in Lebanon, 1990-2013: Descriptive study of 612 cases from a hospital tumor registry.
abstract: Despite the fact that breast cancer is a major health issue, very few studies describe its characteristics in the Arab world or the Middle East, particularly in Lebanon. We report in this article a retrospective pilot study of the characteristics of breast cancer in Lebanon. The pathological characteristics of 624 patients diagnosed between 1990 and 2013 randomly chosen from the archives of an oncology clinic affiliated to Hotel Dieu de France Hospital are analyzed. The mean age at diagnosis is 54.6±13.4 years with 43% diagnosed before the age of 50 years. The infiltrative ductal carcinoma represents the major pathological subtype. One third of the tumors had a size of more than 2 cm at diagnosis. Estrogen-receptors are positive in more than 50% of our patients and Her2-neu is overexpresssed in 30%. Luminal A represents 45.5% and the triple negative subgroup constitutes only 8.3%. Breast cancer in Lebanon is evolving to a more indolent disease. Therefore, public awareness and institution of screening programs are required. These programs should be based on national epidemiological data and necessitate the activation of the national cancer registry.
authors.affiliation: Saint Joseph University, Faculty of Medicine, Beirut, Lebanon. Electronic address: chahine_georges@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Georges
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chahine
authors.affiliation: Saint Joseph University, Faculty of Medicine, Beirut, Lebanon. Electronic address: elie.rassy@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Elie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: El Rassy
authors.affiliation: Saint Joseph University, Faculty of Medicine, Beirut, Lebanon. Electronic address: aline.khazzaka@usj.edu.lb.
authors.forename: Aline
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khazzaka
authors.affiliation: Saint Joseph University, Faculty of Medicine, Beirut, Lebanon. Electronic address: khalil_saleh@live.com.
authors.forename: Khalil
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Saleh
authors.affiliation: Saint Joseph University, Faculty of Medicine, Beirut, Lebanon. Electronic address: natalie.rassy@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rassy
authors.affiliation: Saint Joseph University, Faculty of Medicine, Beirut, Lebanon. Electronic address: khalife.nadine@live.com.
authors.forename: Nadine
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Khalife
authors.affiliation: Saint Joseph University, Faculty of Medicine, Beirut, Lebanon. Electronic address: david.atallah@gmail.com.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Atallah
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D007861:Lebanon; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000096:biosynthesis; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000096:biosynthesis; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; C508053:ERBB2 protein, human
keywords: Arab; Breast cancer; Developing countries; Epidemiology; Lebanon; Middle East; Primary healthcare; Primary prevention