Abstract

Objective: To examine the knowledge and attitudes of women towards breast screening for its initial diagnosis.
Methodology: For the present study, multistage sampling technique was applied. Data were collected from 105 cancer patients (35 patients from each 3 hospitals).
Results: Mostly breast cancer patients were having age between 41-50 years and belonged to rural areas. A considerable percentage (78.1%) reported that they heard about breast cancer before diagnosing their disease and only 10.5% of them reported that they self-examined after hearing about this disease. Few patients were having breast cancer history in their family. Bi-variate analysis shows that illiterate, rural, unmarried, and low-income patients were diagnosed late and effected females tried herbal rather than a medical treatment.
Conclusion: Late presentation was predominant and majority of breast cancer patients were diagnosed at late stages. There were two basic features in the prevention of breast cancer. First its early detection and secondly risk reduction through its early treatment.

Key words: Tumor, breast cancer, early detection.