Paget's Disease of the Breast: A Tertiary Hospital Experience

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Background: Paget’s disease of the breast is rare. It is one of the foremost subtypes of carcinoma of the breast, Ä‚ccŽƵnÆŸnŐ for only 1-3% of all breast tumors. It is ŽŌĞn misdiagnosed because of its unusual ƉƌĞƐĞnƚĂƟŽn and absence of a breast lump in nearly half of the ƉĂƟĞnƚƐ͘ This study aims at ĞǀĂůƵĂƟnŐ the epidemiology and outcome of surgical treatment of Paget’s disease of the breast in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Methods: This is a ƌĞƚƌŽƐƉĞcƟǀĞ study of cases of Paget’s disease of the breast seen and managed in the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, Nigeria over a 20 year period. The ƉĂƟĞnƚƐ were analyzed for age, sex, clinical ƉƌĞƐĞnƚĂƟŽn and treatment given. Results: A total of 24 ƉĂƟĞnƚƐ out of 2,105 cases of carcinoma of the breast were seen to have Paget’ s disease. All were females aged 30 to 55 years and all had unilateral disease. Only 10% of the ƉĂƟĞnƚƐ had a palpable mass on the breast. All the ƉĂƟĞnƚƐ had biopsies either of the skin or both skin and breast lump. Conclusion: Paget’s disease of the breast is uncommon and easily misdiagnosed. This calls for wedge ƌĞƐĞcƟŽn and/or histology of any mass seen for any ƉĂƟĞnÆš ƉƌĞƐĞnÆŸnŐ with eczematous lesions on the nipples.