Some Haematological Parameters of Breast Cancer Patients accessing therapy at University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar Nigeria

Abstract

Breast cancer contributes significantly to maternal mortality particularly in resource-poor settings with inadequate health infrastructure. Evaluation of haematological parameters is reliable for both diagnosis and monitoring of diseases. Thus, the present study was designed to investigate changes in packed cell volume (PCV), haemoglobin concentration (Hb), total and differential white cell counts as well as platelet count of breast cancer patients on treatment in Calabar, South- South, Nigeria. The study was conducted in University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar. It included 36 cases of pathologically diagnosed breast cancer (BC) female patients as well as 30 apparently healthy females drawn from the general population who served as control group. Ethical considerations and protocols were observed. Haematological parameters were analyzed on venous blood collected from each participant using the Sysmex KX-21N™ automated haematology analyzer system. Data analysis was carried on SPSS version 22.0 using students t-test and Pearson’s correlation. A p-value of ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Haemoglobin concentration and packed cell volume mean values of Breast Cancer patients were significantly lower (p = 0.001) compared to values from control subjects. Similarly, Breast Cancer patients had significantly lower values of the total white blood cell count as well as absolute neutrophil and lymphocyte counts compared to control subjects (p = 0.001, p = 0.002 and p = 0.007 respectively). The stage of treatment course correlated negatively with monocyte count (p = 0.033). In conclusion, this studied observed anaemia as well as relative leucopenia among breast cancer patients on treatment.