Clinical presentation of urinary bladder cancers in Kenya

A review of cancers of urinary bladder as seen in the Kenyatta National Hospital was undertaken. 75 cases were histologically documented between January 1977 to June 1984. The incidence was found to be 0.75% of all reported cancers in the Kenyatta National Hospital, which is lower than the 2% reported in the white populations of Europe and North America. Overall, two age peaks were observed at the 6th and 7th decades; the majority occurring between 5th and 7th decades. Males predominated over females by four times. 81.3% of patients presented with haematuria, 65.3% presented with irritative bladder symptoms while 41.3% presented with bladder out-let obstruction. The frequently seen histological variants of cancers were transitional cell carcinoma (53.3%) of all grades and/or stages, followed by anaplastic carcinomas (17.3%) and then by squamous cell carcinomas (13.3%) which were mainly confined to patients from Lake region and coast regions.