audit of 149 consecutive breast biopsies in Ibadan, Nigeria

To study the outcomes of one hundred and forty nine consecutive breast biopsies in both male and female patients in one arm of the general surgery division of the department of surgery, university college hospital Ibadan. A retrospective study of the case files and histopathology reports of 149 patients who had biopsies of the breast from May 1996 to September 2004. The study showed that below the age of 30 years, there was no malignancy detected in 85 breast biopsies, however as the age increased it was seen that less than one out of four biopsies were malignant when the patients were aged between 31 and 40 years, rising to one out of four biopsies for the 41-50 and 51-60 age-groups. The 61-70 yielded roughly one out of three whilst two out of three breast biopsies were malignant in the 71-80 age-groups. Majority of breast lumps are benign and women have a probability of one chance in 10 that their biopsies may be malignant. However under 30 years this is unlikely. Above the age of 40 years the chance of malignancy rises to a one in four which will strongly support screening methods for women above 40 years. For record purposes, fibroadenoma is still the most common breast lesion in women under 30 years and invasive ductal carcinoma is the most common histopathological type of breast cancer in Ibadan, Nigeria

Colorectal carcinoma in West Africans: some considerations on its relatively lower incidence compared to Caucasians

Carcinoma of the colon and rectum is about the 2nd commonest cancer in the developed [western] world; however in developing countries especially West Africa it has not yet reached such magnitude. This suggests that there may be factors either anthropomorphic or environmental which may be responsible for this. The paper acknowledges the reduced incidence of colorectal cancer in native West Africans living in Africa and endeavors to highlight the various factors that produce this observation in medical literature. A compelling search through available literature on the aetiology, epidemiology and comparative anthropology of colorectal cancer was done. Internet search using Pubmed, British library online and Google scholar was also utilized. The rarity of adenomatous polyposis syndromes in the native West African contributes to the reduced incidence of colorectal cancer. Cancer prevention and cancer-protective factors are deemed to lie in the starchy, high-fiber, spicy, peppery foodstuff low in animal protein which many West African nations consume. Lactose intolerance which many black races have is also suggested to be protective, likewise exposure to sunlight and physical activity. The natural geographical location which ensures all-year-round sunshine, avoidance of western-type diet and rarity of polyposis coli syndromes may continue to keep the rates of colorectal cancer down [when compared to Caucasians] in the native West African

tendency towards a coagulation disorder in surgical jaundice: aretrospective analysis of some routine parameters

It is a retrospective study of 30 patients who had operations for obstructive jaundice in the University College Hospital Ibadan between 1998 and 2003. The aim was to see if one could predict the patients at risk of bleeding by analysing the routine investigations Like the Packed Cell Volume [PCV], Serum bilirubin Levels, Alkaline phosphatase and the International Normatised Ratio [INR]. These parameters were analysed against the age and pathology of the condition i.e. the respective diagnoses. The male/female ratio was 1:1.4 and the mean age was 52.8 years. The mean total bilirubin was 14.2mg% [241 .4micromol/L] and the mean PCV was 31.6%. The pathology of the condition was split between carcinoma of the head of the pancreas, carcinoma of the gall bladder, common bile duct stone and peri-ampullary carcinoma. The results suggest that the risk of haemorrhage increases with age and the levels of bilirubin beyond l5mg% [255micromol/L] in persons with carcinoma of the gall bladder