CLINICOPATHOLOGIC FEATURES OF CERVICAL CANCER PATIENTS SEEN IN A COMPREHENSIVE CANCER CENTRE IN NORTH-WESTERN NIGERIA

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the socio-demographic and clinicopathological features of patients with cervical cancer seen in a comprehensive cancer center in North-western Nigeria. It was a six years retrospective study of patients with cervical cancer treated in the Department of Radiotherapy and Oncology, UDUTH, Sokoto. Data was obtained from the patients’ case notes using a semi-structured data extraction form. A total of 220 cases were reviewed for patients whose mean age was 49.9 years (SD ± 11.9); with the age range of 24-87 years. Results show that squamous cell carcinoma was the most common histological type seen in 182(82.7%) of the patients, followed by adenocarcinoma 22(10%) and clear cell carcinoma 9(4.1%). Vaginal bleeding 110(50%), foul-smelling vaginal discharge103 (46.8%), fatigue 67(30.5%), lower abdominal pain 65(20.5%) and weight loss 30(13.6%) were the commonest clinical features. 176(80%) patients presented late stages (IIB – IVB) of cervical cancer. Concluding, most of the women with cervical cancer presented with features of vaginal bleeding or foul-smelling vaginal discharge, weight loss, fatigue and lower abdominal pain, with commonest histological categorization being squamous cell carcinoma. Late presentation of the disease was obviously observed in most of the cases diagnosed. The clinical features of cervical cancer identified in the cases reviewed are indicators of advanced disease. Thus, it is imperative that advocacy for cervical cancer screening should be stepped up in order to ensure early detection and prevent the progression of the disease to advanced stages.