Incidence of hospital-based screen-detected prostate cancer in Abuja, Nigeria

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the incidence of screen-detected prostate cancer (CaP) in a University Hospital in Abuja. Methodology: This is a retrospective review of all patients seen with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and or enlargement of the prostate who were screened for CaP over a 4-year period from January 2010 to December 2013. Data retrieved from the medical records of these patients were collated using a pro forma and analyzed with SPSS software Version 20. Results: The records of 103 patients were utilized for this study. The average age was 65.9 ± 9.0 years. Of this number, 99 had LUTS at presentation, while 4 had no LUTS. Digital rectal examination findings revealed a clinical suspicion of malignancy in 84.5% (n = 87) and features of benign enlargement in the remainder. Serum prostate-specific antigen was <4 ng/ml in 3.8% (n = 4), 4-10 ng/ml in 9.7% (n = 10), and >10 ng/ml in 85.4% (n = 88). Histology revealed adenocarcinoma in 50% of the patients (n = 38) with 71% (n = 27) being moderately and 29% (n = 11) being poorly differentiated. The incidence of screen-detected CaP in this series was 38.7%. Conclusions: The incidence of screen-detected CaP may be higher than it is actually reported in this part of the world. The place of opportunistic screening for the well informed may not reflect the high cancer burden. Most patients presented late in the advanced stage of the disease with moderately to poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma being the most common histological type.