The Pathology of Breast Biopsies in a Sample of Nigerian Patients: Review and Analysis

Background: Histological tissue diagnosis of breast lumps plays an important role in patient management. Almost all breast pathology studies in Nigeria were conducted in government owned health facilities. This study aims to describe the histopathological pattern and of breast biopsies seen in Me Cure Healthcare Limited, a privately owned diagnostic centre.Methods: Histopathological reports of all breast specimens received and processed from August 2009 to December 2013 were retrieved from a computer database and entered into an Excel sheet and analyzed using SPSS version 17. Histological features were classified using 2003 WHO classification of breast diseases.Results: A total of 1205 breast specimens were reviewed. This formed 26% of 4,642 histology specimens received in the pathology laboratory. The youngest patient was 11 years and the oldest 88 years with a mean of 31.7 years and SD ±13.12. Females accounted for 97.8% with a female to male ratio of 43.4:1. The age group 20-29 years were most involved (n=362; 30%). Malignant lesions accounted for 21.3% while benign lesions accounted for 78.7%. Fibroadenoma was the commonest benign lesion and accounted for 61.7% of all benign lesions with a mean age of cases been 24,6 years. Age groups 40-49 and 30-39 years accounted for most malignant lesions (33.5% and 27.6% respectively) with invasive ductal carcinoma been the commonest.Conclusion: Benign breast lesions are more common generally, while invasive ductal carcinoma is the commonest malignant lesion involving mainly age groups 30-49 years in our environment. Women with cancers in our environment, usually present with grades II and III lesions.Keywords: Breast, Histopathology, Biops

Histologic Analysis of Gynaecologic Lesions in Nigerians

Background: Gynaecological neoplasms are a cause of significant morbidity and mortality in females all over the world.Objective: To determine the pattern of gynaecological lesions seen in Me Cure Healthcare, Lagos  Nigeria.Design: A descriptive retrospective study.Setting: Histopathology section of Me Cure Healthcare Limited from August 2009 to August 2014.Subjects: Histopathological reports and paraffin sections of gynaecologic lesions/ specimens which were diagnosed by Me Cure Healthcare.Results: A total of 691 gynaecologic specimens were received. The youngest patient was 14 years, while the oldest patient was 79 years with a mean age of 40.47 years and Std of ± 10.59. Eighty three percent  of specimens were benign neoplastic lesions, while 5.9% of specimens were malignant neoplastic   lesions. Uterine leiomyomas were the most common lesions and majority of them were seen in age  groups 30-39 and 40-49 years. Simple endometrial hyperplasia without atypia accounted for most   endometrial lesions (52,3%) and were seen more in age groups 30-39 and 40-49 years. Most ovarian  lesions (45.9%) were non neoplastic cysts and seen more in age groups 20-29 and 30-39 years. The  cancers seen were those of the cervix (56.1%), endometrium (22%), ovary (14.6%), uterus (4.9%) and choriocarcinoma (2.4%) in that order. Cervical cancer was seen in 36.5% of cervical lesions and involved mainly age groups; 30-39 years, 50-59 years and 60-69 years (each of these age groups had five cases). The mean age for cases of cancer of the cervix was 50 years Std ± 13.0 and all the age groups except 10-19 years were involved.Conclusion: Benign lesions were the most common with uterine leiomyoma accounting for most of them, while cervical carcinoma was the the common gynaecological cancer. Endometrial cancer cases were noted to be on the rise

Pattern of hormone receptors and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 status in sub‑Saharan breast cancer cases: Private practice experience

Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women globally. With immunohistochemistry (IHC), breast cancer is classified into four groups based on IHC profile of estrogen receptor (ER)/progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2/neu) expression, positive (+) and/or negative (−). The IHC classification correlates well with intrinsic gene expression microarray categorization. ER‑positive tumors may benefit from being treated with selective ER modulators and aromatase inhibitors, whereas patients with HER2/neu positive tumors have been shown to experience a significant survival advantage when treated with humanized monoclonal antibodies against HER2/neu.Objective: To determine ER/PR, HER2/neu expression and their association with histological prognostic markers in female breast carcinomas seen in a private diagnostic laboratory based in Lagos.Materials and Methods: Immunohistochemistry reports of breast cancer patients, which were diagnosed by histopathology section of a private diagnostic laboratory based in Lagos, Nigeria from August 2009 to August 2014.Results: About 18.7% of breast cancers had IHC (ER, PR and HER2) done on them and were all females. The mean age of all subjects was 49.5 years (standard deviation, 13.2; range, 29–78 years). Most (95.8%) of the breast cancers were of invasive ductal carcinoma type, with 77.4% of them been >5 cm. IHC pattern was as follows:ER/PR+, HER2− = 19 (39.6%), ER/PR−, HER2− (triple negative [TN]) = 14 (29.2%), ER/PR+, HER2+ = 9 (18.8%), ER/ PR−, HER2+ = 6 (12.5%), corresponding to Lumina A, TN/basal‑like, Lumina B and HER2 over expressed respectively.Conclusion: Triple negative breast cancers are common in our environment and affect young females most and could be contributory to the poorer prognosis of breast cancer in our environment.Keywords: Breast cancer, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2/neu, immunohistochemistry, steroid receptor

Safety and long-term immunogenicity of the two-dose heterologous Ad26.ZEBOV and MVA-BN-Filo Ebola vaccine regimen in adults in Sierra Leone: a combined open-label, non-randomised stage 1, and a randomised, double-blind, controlled stage 2 trial

10.1016/S1473-3099(21)00125-0The Lancet Infectious Diseases22197-10

Safety and immunogenicity of the two-dose heterologous Ad26.ZEBOV and MVA-BN-Filo Ebola vaccine regimen in children in Sierra Leone: a randomised, double-blind, controlled trial

10.1016/S1473-3099(21)00128-6The Lancet Infectious Diseases221110-12