Prevalence of Malignant Breast Lesions in Patients Presenting with Palpable Lumps

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVES This study aimed to estimate the histopathology-confirmed malignancy rate among women presenting with palpable breast lumps and to describe the clinicopathological profile. METHODOLOGY The cross-sectional study was conducted from February 23, 2025, to August 23, 2025, in the Surgical Unit of Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar, and enrolled 163 female patients with palpable breast lumps. Each of the women had clinical evaluations, then subsequently underwent either core needle biopsy or excisional or incisional biopsy. Their histopathological diagnosis was done after the biopsy. Demographic characteristics of women, the various tumor characteristics, and each tumor's histopathology were analyzed. RESULTSThe patient's mean age was 38.7 ± 11.4 years. Of the total number of patients, 46 (28.2%) cases were confirmed malignant on pathology; 117 (71.8%) cases were benign. The majority of malignant cases (82.6%) were invasive ductal carcinoma. Meanwhile, the most commonly diagnosed benign lumps were fibroadenomas (35.6%). It was also noted that the malignancy risk increased with age. It was 7.7% in patients aged less than 30 years, 26.2% in patients aged 31-50, and 48.7% among patients older than 50 years. CONCLUSION In this cohort, approximately one-third of the palpable breast lumps were malignant, and there was a predominance of invasive ductal carcinoma. Higher malignancy risks were noted among older women and with larger tumor sizes. In high-burden, resource-limited settings, there is a critical need for prompt biopsy and pathological evaluation of all palpable breast lumps to improve the timeliness and prognosis for optimal care.