Pattern of prostate cancer among a Nigerian population: A study in a single tertiary care centre

Prostate cancer has become a global health challenge because of its rising morbidity and mortality in males. It is the second cause of cancer death following lung cancer in men. It is rare under the age of 40 and its incidence has been shown to increase exponentially with age. Previously, Prostate cancer was thought to be a disease rare in blacks owing to the fact that not so much was known of the disease.

The objective of the study was to review the prevalence, pattern of presentation and clinic-pathologic findings of prostate cancer in the Department of Radiotherapy, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), between January 2001 to December 2010 in comparison to previous and recent studies globally.

Data collection for all patients histologically diagnosed with Prostate cancer at the Department of Radiotherapy, LUTH, from 1st of January 2001 to 31st of December 2010 was done.

A total of 144 cases with histologically confirmed Prostate cancer seen during the ten year study were analysed. The highest frequency was seen in the year 2010 with 34 cases. The age range was 41 to 81years with a mean of 66.19 ±7.30years.Adenocarcinoma was the commonest histological type with 98.6%.9(6.3%) patients had a positive family history of prostate cancer out of which 3(33.3%) had their brother affected the malignancy. 51(35.4%) patients presented with stage IV disease.18(12.5%) patients had a Gleason's score of 6,10(6.9%) patients had a Gleason's score of 7 and 2(1.4%) patients had a Gleason's score of 10. The most common presenting complaints were bone pains seen in 51(35.4%) patients, frequent night urine and difficulty with micturition seen in 50(34.7%) and 42(29.2%) patients respectively.

This study showed that prostate cancer is not as rare as it used to be. Reasons attributed to its rarity then were lack of awareness, poor screening facilities and poor diagnosing technique.