Pathologically confirmed women's breast cancer: A descriptive study of Tunisian and Algerian series

BACKGROUND Breast cancer (BC) is the most frequent malignancy among women in Tunisia and Algeria. Clinical and pathological characteristics of this cancer among these populations are not widely reported. The aim of the study was to report clinical and pathological characteristics of women's BC in a Tunisian and Algerian series. METHODS Pathologically confirmed 1089 BCs were gathered in the pathology departments of three Northern Tunisian hospitals: Tunis military, Charles Nicolle and Jendouba and in the pathology department of Alger Douera hospital between January 2015 and December 2020. Clinical and pathological findings of the two series: age, tumor size, histological type, grading according to Scarff-Bloom Richardson grading system, lymph node status at the time of diagnosis in axillary lymphadenectomy specimens and the immunohistochemical expression of estrogen and progesterone receptors (ER/PR), HER2 and Ki-67, were collected from the pathological reports. RESULTS The median age at diagnosis was 50 and 48 years in Tunisian and Algerian series, respectively (p = 0.016). The diagnosis of BC was made on surgical specimens (lumpectomy or mastectomy) in 373/491 (76%) cases of the Tunisian series and in 225/598 (37.6%) cases of the Algerian one. Median tumor size was 2.8 cm and 2.5 cm in Algerian and Tunisian series, respectively (p = 0.252). Invasive BCs not otherwise specified was observed in 440/481 (91.5%) BCs in Tunisian series and in 519/586 (88.6%) BCs in Algerian series. Axillary lymph node positive tumors were observed in 64.6% and 58.8% of Tunisian and Algerian women, respectively (p = 0.926). BCs were ER positive in 311/385 (80.8%) and 486/571 (85.1%) cases and HER2 positive in 86/283 (30.4%) and 60/385 (15.6%) cases of Tunisian and Algerian series, respectively. CONCLUSIONS In Tunisia and Algeria, BC has poor prognostic factors with large tumor sizes and high rates of lymph nodes involvement at diagnosis.

[1]  S. Abdelhak,et al.  Association between epidemiological and clinico-pathological features of breast cancer with prognosis, family history, Ki-67 proliferation index and survival in Tunisian breast cancer patients , 2022, PloS one.

[2]  I. Soerjomataram,et al.  Current and future burden of breast cancer: Global statistics for 2020 and 2040 , 2022, Breast.

[3]  S. Ahmed,et al.  Identification of Eleven Novel BRCA Mutations in Tunisia: Impact on the Clinical Management of BRCA Related Cancers , 2021, Frontiers in Oncology.

[4]  T. Sahraoui,et al.  Prevalence and prognosis of molecular phenotypes in breast cancer patients by age: a population-based retrospective cohort study in western Algeria , 2021, The Pan African medical journal.

[5]  N. Djehal,et al.  Epidemiology of breast cancer in women based on diagnosis data from oncologists and senologists in Algeria. , 2020, Cancer treatment and research communications.

[6]  Christos Sotiriou,et al.  The 2019 World Health Organization classification of tumours of the breast , 2020, Histopathology.

[7]  M. Harhay,et al.  Estimating the incidence of breast cancer in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis , 2018, Journal of global health.

[8]  F. Z. Mouh,et al.  Outcome of Breast Cancer in Moroccan Young Women Correlated to Clinic-Pathological Features, Risk Factors and Treatment: A Comparative Study of 716 Cases in a Single Institution , 2016, PloS one.

[9]  M. Guèye,et al.  Problématique de la prise en charge des cancers du sein au Sénégal: une approche transversale , 2016, The Pan African Medical Journal.

[10]  B. Benarba,et al.  Cancer incidence in North West Algeria (Mascara) 2000-2010: results from a population-based cancer registry , 2014, EXCLI journal.

[11]  M. E. El May,et al.  Descriptive analysis of molecular subtypes in Tunisian breast cancer , 2014, Asia-Pacific journal of clinical oncology.

[12]  C. Perou,et al.  Personalizing the treatment of women with early breast cancer: highlights of the St Gallen International Expert Consensus on the Primary Therapy of Early Breast Cancer 2013 , 2013, Annals of oncology : official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology.

[13]  J. Bernaudin,et al.  High Incidence of Triple-Negative Tumors in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Prospective Study of Breast Cancer Characteristics and Risk Factors in Malian Women Seen in a Bamako University Hospital , 2012, Oncology.

[14]  Steven J. M. Jones,et al.  Comprehensive molecular portraits of human breast tumors , 2012, Nature.

[15]  Y. Collan,et al.  Breast cancer patients in Libya: Comparison with European and central African patients. , 2011, Oncology letters.

[16]  M. Mokni,et al.  Distribution of molecular breast cancer subtypes among Tunisian women and correlation with histopathological parameters: a study of 194 patients. , 2010, Pathology, research and practice.

[17]  Päivi Heikkilä,et al.  Subtyping of Breast Cancer by Immunohistochemistry to Investigate a Relationship between Subtype and Short and Long Term Survival: A Collaborative Analysis of Data for 10,159 Cases from 12 Studies , 2010, PLoS medicine.

[18]  M. J. van de Vijver,et al.  ONCOPOOL - a European database for 16,944 cases of breast cancer. , 2010, European journal of cancer.

[19]  Hesahm Najjar,et al.  Age at diagnosis of breast cancer in Arab nations. , 2010, International journal of surgery.

[20]  F. Vizoso,et al.  Characterization of breast cancer subtypes by quantitative assessment of biological parameters: relationship with clinicopathological characteristics, biological features and prognosis. , 2008, European journal of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive biology.

[21]  T. Kuopio,et al.  Breast cancer in Nigeria and Finland: epidemiological, clinical and histological comparison. , 2002, Anticancer research.

[22]  O. Gharbi,et al.  [Breast cancer prognosis in Tunisian women: analysis of a hospital series of 729 patients]. , 2002, Sante publique.

[23]  J. Daoud,et al.  [Breast cancer in Tunisia: clinical and epidemiological study]. , 1999, Bulletin du cancer.