BREAST-CANCER DURING PREGNANCY AND LACTATION IN ZARIA, NIGERIA

As most African women with breast cancer are premenopausal, the probab ility of pregnancy and lactation co-existing with breast cancer is hig her than among the Caucasian patients who are usually post-menopausal. However, because of the relative rarity of breast cancer in black wom en compared with the Caucasians, experience with gestational breast ca ncer in African women is very limited. Among 95 women younger than 50 years of age who had the diagnosis of breast cancer over a 121/2 year period in Zaria, 25 (26.3%) were either pregnant (n = 14) or lactating (n = 11) at the time of presentation. Comparison of the clinical feat ure of these 25 with those of the remaining 70 who were neither pregna nt nor lactating showed no difference in the clinical presentation, hi stological tumour type, and the advanced stages of the breast cancer a t presentation between the two groups.