PATTERN OF LIVER CANCER ADMISSIONS AT THE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE HOSPITAL, IBADAN - A 4-YEAR REVIEW

Liver Cancer (LC) is a common malignancy globally, and it exacts an enormous toll on the health care system. Therefore, it is imperative to have an epidemiological profile for effective planning.

This study examined the basic demographic, admission profile and outcome of this category of patients through a retrospective cross-sectional study. The study was carried out using data of clinical diagnoses of LC admitted into the Gastro-intestinal Unit (GLU), Department of Medicine, University College Hospital, Ibadan between 1^st January 2011 and 31^st December 2014.

Two hundred and six patients (16.8%) had diagnoses of LC out of the 1228 total cases admitted by the GLU. The total male patients were 147(71.4%) and female 59 (28.6%) while the most prominent age group for both genders and males were 41-50 years in the male group and 51-60 years among females. The mean ± SD and median hospital stay was 10.6±11.6 days and eight days for LC patients, respectively. The intrahospital fatality rate was 37.9% and occurred mainly within five days of admission.

Liver Cancer is an important disorder in gastrointestinal practice and had high fatality within a few days of admission; hence, efforts should be made to improve the care of the patients.