Objective: To know the frequency of breast diseases in Pakistani females.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of 3279 breast specimens received over a period of 4 years (1 993-1996) at the department of pathology, the Aga Khan University Hospital.

Results: Out of a total of 3279 breast specimens, common breast lesions included infiltrating duct carcinoma 37%, followed by fibro adenoma 16.95%, fibrocystic change13.96%, mastitis 6.83% and duct ectasia 5.33%. Majority of the cases of infiltrating duct carcinoma were encountered in the 5th and 6th decades of life. Tumour size was 2 or >2 cms. in 93% of cases and 40% of them showed 3 or >3 positive lymph nodes. Grade I tumours were 11.38%, grade 11 59.17% and grade Ill tumours 29.47%. Correlation of grade with lymph node metastases (3 or >3+ve nodes) showed 15 cases (1.53%) of grade 1, 178 cases (18.25%) of grade II and 68(6.97%) cases of grade Ill tumours.

Conclusion: This study shows that in Pakistani females, the most commonly encountered lesion in carcinoma of the breast followed by the benign lesions such as fibro adenoma, fibrocystic disease & others. Breast carcinoma occurs at a younger age group with predominance of high-grade lesions and with frequent lymph node metastasis.