the frequency of breast cancer among women referred to hospitals for biopsy in birjand, iran during 2011-2013

background: this study aims to demonstrate the frequency of malignant breast cancer (bc) according to pathologic findings in birjand during 2011-2013 years. methods: for this cross-sectional study, the sample consisted of pathologic records from 229 breast biopsies of two hospitals in birjand. results: most of the biopsies in women were malignant cases which nearly 90% of them were detected after lymph node involvement. the mean age of women with malignant bc was 48.8 years. conclusions: a notable proportion of our cases were diagnosed in metastatic stages as advanced bc. it further highlights the importance of screening and diagnosis at earlier stages.