Pathological aspects of breast cancer in Indonesian females, emphasizing on the modified W.H.O. classification

The incidence of breast cancer varies greatly among geographic regions and differences in pathological patterns and biological aspects might result in different clinical behavior of the disease. In this study we would like to investigate the similarity and dissimilarity of histopathological patterns of breast cancer among the Indonesian and the Japanese females. Three hundred cases of breast carcinoma treated at Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital (RSCM), Jakarta, within 3 years (1988-1991) were analysed for the various histophatological aspects. The specimens were reviewed using the classification recommended by the Japanese Breast Cancer Society. We also compared with the data of446 Japanese breast cancer cases from the Cancer Institute Hospital (CIH), Tokyo, Japan. The RSCM cases had 1,33% noninvasive carcinoma, 88,3% invasive carcinoma and 9,67% special types. The CIH cases were 7,4% noninvasive carcinoma, 80,4% invasive ductal carcinoma and 11,3% special types. Compared to the Japanese females it was noticed that breast cancer cases had already occured more frequently at the younger age group (20-29 years) of the Indonesian females. However, the age distributions of both groups peaked at 40-49 years. Indonesian females had larger-sized tumors. The proportion of mucinous and lobular carcinomas were higher in Japanese females, while the proportion of medullary carcinoma was higher in Indonesian females.