[Cancer of the uterine cervix in Togo. Epidemiological observations and anatomopathological characteristics]

Fifty consecutive cases of cervical cancer from the Afagnan Hospital in Togo have been reviewed in their clinical features, and in ten out of these and five additional ones from the year 1979 the histological specimens were reexamined. The high rate of late diagnosis was the most striking clinical data observed, while the histopathological study revealed a high quota of undifferentiated or rare patterns, very different from the types commonly observed in Europe. In spite of the very poor public health level of the population, an almost complete absence of histological signs of HPV infection in the neoplastic tissue should be remarked.