Delayed Treatment of Symptomatic Breast Cancer: The Experience from Kaduna, Nigeria (General Surgery) (Clinical Report‪)‬

Breast cancer has recently overtaken carcinoma of the cervix as the leading cause of cancer morbidity and mortality in Nigerian women. (1) The incidence may be much lower than in developed countries, but mortality from the disease continues to be a source of concern. The average lifespan of a diagnosed breast cancer patient in Nigeria has been estimated to range between 9.5 and 30 months. Orthodox medical treatment is commenced in most of these patients at an advanced stage of the disease (2-5) because of a higher proportion of aggressive breast cancer variants, lack of organised screening and breast cancer control programmes, and delays in diagnosis and treatment. (2-6) Studies from developed countries have shown that delay between onset of symptoms and treatment of breast cancer results in disease progression and a detrimental effect on survival. (7-9) By convention, breast cancer delay has been categorised into patient delay (between onset of symptoms and first consultation with the physician) and health provider or medical delay (from first consultation to initiation of treatment). Provider delay may be diagnostic (from first consultation to confirmation of pathological diagnosis) or treatment delay (from confirmation of diagnosis to initiation of treatment).