Frequency of Gynecological Malignancies in a Tertiary Care Centre in Karachi, Pakistan

Abstract

Introduction: In Pakistan, females comprise almost half of the total population and thus gynecological malignancies affecting the female population have an impact on the overall health and economic budget of the country. As we do not have our data thus we need to ascertain the pattern of malignancy in our population so that awareness pertaining to the commonest type of gynecological malignancies, in our population can be formulated. This can help formulate screening guidelines for our region of the world and help us in planning programs to spread awareness for their early detection and recognition. Material and Methods: It was a retrospective review of 367 patients' data attending the Medical Oncology Clinic of Liaquat National Hospital from January 2016 to January 2020. Results: The most common site of gynecological cancer was Ovarian 181 (49.3%), followed by Uterine 124 (33.8). Cervix was the 3rd most common tumor with 33 (9%). 8 patients had dual ovarian and uterine primary tumors (2.2%). Thirteen patients (3.5%) had Gestational Trophoblastic Disease, four patients (1.1%) had a primary peritoneal disease and four patients (1.0%) had Vulvo-Vaginal cancers. Conclusion: As our results are different in comparison to a western population with Ovarian cancer being the most common cancer, followed by uterine cancer and cancer of the cervix, thus more research is warranted regarding different factors, like the age-related incidence of different sites of gynecological cancers, stage at presentation, disease-free and overall survival of gynecological cancers according to the site so that proper awareness regarding early detection can be formulated and implemented.