Growing Burden of Breast Cancer in Bihar, a State of Eastern India: Epidemiology, Treatment and Outcome

Background: Worldwide, the incidence and mortality of breast cancer are rising rapidly, and emerging countries are particularly affected by this change. Globally 25%, or 2.1 million cases, of all female cancers diagnosed in 2018 were breast cancer. The leading cause of death for women is breast cancer. The present study was aimed to report the patient demographics, age, histopathology, stage, and status of presentation, compliance with treatment, follow-up, and survival.

Methods: Our cancer centre has evaluated breast cancer data of (n=422) patients over the period of January 2017 to December 2021. Retrospectively database of patients with breast cancer available in our medical records department and Hospital-Based Cancer Registry software were reviewed. The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS 26.0.

Results: A total of 422 breast cancer cases were registered in our hospital. Of these (n=389; 92.18%) had received treatment. This study has reported a good survival rate of 62.21%, patients (n=242; 62.21%) are alive (n=43; 17.77%) survived with disease free, (n=59; 24.38%) with residual disease and patients (n=84; 19.79%) were expired due to disease progression. The outcomes of triple-negative breast cancer were poor and the treatment options are mainly restricted to systemic chemotherapy. Mortality rates reported in triple negative breast cancer were 80.91%.

Conclusion: The survival rates in this study were reported 62.21%. Breast cancer is spreading aggressively in India. Multicentre clinical trials on breast cancer must be carried out in tier two three cities of India. The requirement is for a strong awareness campaign and the efficient implementation of a national cancer screening programme.