Evaluation of clinical, pathological and epidemiological profile of patients with breast cancer in the microregion of Lavras – MG

Abstract

Introduction: Breast cancer is associated with high frequency and mortality in Brazilian women. There have been limited studies portraying the characteristics of breast cancer cases in the countryside of the state of Minas Gerais for a long period of time, a fact that will allow us to better understand the epidemiology of these tumors. This descriptive study aims to analyze the epidemiology and clinical features of patients with breast cancer treated at a public health service facility in Lavras, MG. Methods: This is a transversal study with 299 women diagnosed with breast cancer between 2002 and 2022, based on data collection from medical records and subsequent descriptive analysis. Results: There were a total of 317 cases, and 299 were eligible for the study. The mean age at diagnosis was 54.2 years, and 36.1% of the patients were under 50 years old at diagnosis. Positive family history was found in 17.0% of the patients. The diagnosis was made by clinical alteration detected on physical examination in 71.5% of cases, and lump was the most frequent type of lesion (89.0%). Invasive carcinoma was 93.1% of the cases, and the mean tumor size was 28.6 mm. The average time between first medical appointment and diagnosis was 63.2 days, and between diagnosis and beginning of treatment was 39.6 days. Conclusions: This study showed that a significant number of cases occurred in women outside the recommended age for screening in Brazil. Diagnosis was predominantly performed by clinical examination, with delays in obtaining the histological diagnosis, and the stage at diagnosis was high, and these facts were associated with the health system limitations. KEYWORDS: breast neoplasm; age groups; cancer screening.