ABSTRACT

Purpose:

As the world’s most common cancer among women, early diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer has great importance. Our aim is to compare the characteristics of patients, according to place of diagnosis, who diagnosed breast cancer between 2007-2009.

Patients and Methods:

We evaluated the data obtained from 83 breast cancer cases operated. 48 (57.8%) of patients diagnosed at KETEM(group 1) and 35 (42.2%) of patients diagnosed at general surgery clinic (group 2) (p>0.05). Patients were evaluated in terms of age, clinical stage at the time of diagnosis, tumor localization and diameter, lymphatic involvement, distant metastasis, methods used in diagnosis, pathological diagnosis and stage.

Results:

The patients were between 31-79 years of age. Only one patient in group 2 was male, the rest were female. The mean age was 54.6 The rate of patients diagnosed at stage 1 was 25% in group 1 and 17.1% in group 2 (p=0.018). 62.5% of patients in group 1 and 21.4% of patients in group 2 were diagnosed at N0 stage. The rate of patients diagnosed at N1 stage was 35.4% in group 1 and 75% in group 2 (p=0.013). 75% of patients who were diagnosed at stage 1 at KETEM were under 50 years of age.

Conclusion:

By screening, at KETEM breast cancer can be diagnosed at earlier stages. Considering the facts that, 75% of patients diagnosed at early stage and 50% of breast cancer cases are under 50 in Turkey, breast cancer screening age should be re-evaluated.