Urological malignancies in Port Harcourt, Nigeria: a 14-year review

Abstract

Background:  Urological malignancies are complex, covering the urinary system in both sexes and the genital system of males. They are common in this setting and posing a lot of problems to the patients. In most cases, the disease terminates in the death of the patient.

Aim:    To study the pattern and frequency of urological malignancies.

Methods: All the urological tissues histologically diagnosed as malignant at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, Nigeria between 1990 and 2003 were retrospectively studied. Variables such as the age and sex of the patients, anatomical site of the cancer,  laterality of the tumours, clinical presentation and the histological types were obtained from the theatre operation register, patient's case notes, histology request forms, reports and autopsy reports.

Results: There were 270 histologically confirmed urological malignancies during the period under review. This accounted for 11.3% of the total malignancies and affected all ages of both sexes with a male to female ratio of 9.8:1 . The 70 years and above age group were most affected [103(38.1%)] and carcinoma of the prostate was the most frequent [189(70.0%)]. Adenocarcinoma of the prostate gland was the leading histological variant [187(64.0%)] and urinary outflow obstruction was the most common clinical presentation [62(23.0%)].

Conclusion: Urological malignancies are fairly common in this environment and carcinoma of the prostate gland is dominating.

Keywords: Urogenital system, Malignancies,  Port Harcourt