Morphological patterns of malignant cercival lessons in Warri, Niger-Delta zone of Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Malignant tumours of the uterine cervix constitute a scourge and reproductive ill health to women of different age groups. These tumours are predominantly cancer of the cervix. Studies have shown that more than 80% of cases of cancer of the cervix worldwide live in developing countries. Materials and Methods: All uterine cervical biopsies received at the department of Pathology, Central Hospital, Warri over a seven year period (January 2005-December 2011) were the materials for this study. Request forms were analyzed for clinical bio-data and diagnosis and histological sections and slides were analyzed Results: A total of 994 gynaecological biopsies were received during this 7 years period of study, 102 cases (10.3%) were gynaecological malignancies. Of these 102 cases, cervical malignancies accounted for 77 cases (75.5%). Again, out of the 994 biopsies, cervical biopsies were 178. Of this, 77 cases (43.7%) were malignant and 99 cases (56.3%) were either benign neoplasm, pseudoneoplastic and inflammatory lesions. The patients’ age range for all malignant cervical lesions was 30-87 years. The peak age and mean age incidence for all malignant cervical tumours were 40-49 years and 49.6±8.4 years respectively. Invasive squamous cell carcinoma (SqCC) was the most commonly seen malignancy accounting for (n=60, 77.9%). Conclusion: Cervical cancer constitutes the first majority of gynaecological malignancies with squamous cell carcinoma as the most commonly encountered cervical malignancies. Again, only a small percentage of CIN were seen as compared to cervical carcinomas.

Keywords: Cervical cancer; Histopathology; Diagnosis