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Background: The most common malignancy and second most common cause of death is breast cancer among women. About 2.09 million fatalities from breast cancer happened in 2018. The objective was to evaluate the elevated CA15-3 in breast cancer patients with visceral metastases presenting at the tertiary care hospital of Karachi. Methods: It was a cross-sectional study conducted at the Department of Oncology of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center from 15th December 2018 to 15th November 2019. Female patients aged 26-80 years diagnosed with visceral metastatic (defined as metastasis to lung, liver, brain and adrenal glands) breast cancer were included in the study. The diagnosis of breast cancer was confirmed on histopathology whereas the metastatic sites were evaluated using physical examination and imaging. The serum CA15-3 concentration was assessed using assay kits. The serum CA15-3 level of 0-32 U/ml was taken as normal range for all the patients whereas CA15-3 level greater than 32 U/L was considered as elevated CA15-3. SPSS version 23 was used to enter and analyze data. Results: A total of 139 females were included in the study. The mean age & BMI of the patients were reported as 46.5 years & 26.69 kg/m². In the majority of the patients' metastases were detected in the liver (n=54), 92 in the lungs+ parenchymal disease, 20 in adrenal glands, 12 in pleural effusion and 10 in the brain. Out of 139 patients with visceral metastases, 52(37.4%) had normal CA15-3 level whereas 87 (62.6%) had elevated serum CA15-3 levels (>32 U/L). Conclusion: The serum CA15-3 tumour marker is elevated significantly in visceral metastases and can be used as a prognostic marker in metastatic breast cancer patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To evaluate the effect of Tamoxifen on plasma lipid profile in breast cancer patients presenting at tertiary care hospitals. Methods: It was a longitudinal study conducted at the Department of Oncology of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center from December 2018 to November 2019. Eighty-eight females aged 26-66 years diagnosed with breast cancer were included in the study using a non-probability consecutive sampling technique. Detailed gynaecological and clinical investigations and detailed history were taken. The blood samples of all the patients were collected and the plasma lipid profile was measured before initiation of Tamoxifen treatment and three- and six-months post-treatment at the clinical laboratory. The plasma lipid profile includes the measurement of Total cholesterol (mg/dl), Triglyceride(mg/dl), High-density Lipoprotein (mg/dl) & Low-density Lipoprotein (mg/dl). SPSS version 23 was used to analyse data. Results: After treatment, there was a significant reduction in serum cholesterol & Low-density Lipoprotein level by 20.54 mg/dl & 16.46 mg/dl at 3 months (p<0.05), moreover there was a significant increase in Triglyceride by 22.14 at 3 months (p<0.05). No significant difference was observed in High density lipoprotein level at 3 months after using Tamoxifen. At 6 months there was a significant reduction in serum cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein by 32.29mg/dl and 24.11 mg/dl at 6 months (p<0.05), moreover there was a significant increase in Triglyceride level by 42.19 mg/dl at 6 months (p<0.05). No significant difference was observed in High-density lipoprotein level at 6 months after using Tamoxifen. Conclusion: Total cholesterol and Low-density Lipoprotein levels showed significant reduction over the period of six months from the baseline with the use of Tamoxifen. Hence Tamoxifen should be considered to have an added advantage on lipid metabolism and therefore, can reduce the risk of cardiovascular events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To determine the prevalence of histological subtypes of breast cancer and its association with age, molecular subtype, menopausal status, parity, obesity and tumor grade. Study Design: Prospective, observational study. Place and Duration of Study: The current study was conducted at Oncology Ward-4, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center, Karachi, Pakistan, from Apr 2018 to Sep 2019. Methodology: Non-probability convenience technique was used for the sample selection. All patients with diagnosed breast cancer presenting at Oncology ward, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center were included in the study. Cases with a non-confirmed diagnosis of breast cancer or those with unknown histological subtype were excluded from the study. Statistical package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 25) was used to analyze the data. Chi-Square test was used to find the association of histological subtypes with age, molecular subtype, menopausal status, parity, obesity, grade of tumor among breast cancer patients. Results: A total of 553 cases of breast cancer patients were reviewed in the study. The mean age of participants was 46.75 ± 10.852 years. We found a frequency of 91.3% of Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (not otherwise specified) among women in our setting. The other rare types of cancer included invasive lobular carcinoma 2%, metaplastic 1.4%, and invasive micropapillary carcinoma 1%. Invasive ductal carcinoma (not otherwise specified). Invasive lobular carcinoma were significantly associated with luminal A type disease (p<0.05) while metaplastic was associated with basal type disease (p=0.006). Conclusion: The most common histological subtype of breast carcinoma in our study population was invasive ductal carcinoma (not otherwise specified). However, various rarer variants of invasive ductal carcinoma were also reported. Histological subtypes play a pivotal role in predicting the behavior and clinical outcome of breast carcinomas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]