Prostate Lesions in a Tertiary Institution in North Central Nigeria: A Histopathology Review

Prostatic lesions are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality among middle aged and elderly men of African ancestry. Reviews on cancer distribution displayed prostate cancer as the most prevalent site specific cancer among adult Nigerian men.

This study provided baseline data of the frequency, histologic spectrum, and pathological characteristics of prostate lesions in a Tertiary institution in North Central Nigeria.

This was a descriptive review of all histologically diagnosed prostate lesions at the pathology department of the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital over a 5-year period from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2019.

Prostatic lesions represented 4.1% of all surgical specimens in the period under review. The age range of the patients' was 32 to 95 years with a mean age of 66.5 years at diagnosis and peak age incidence seen in the 7th decade. There were 259 (52.9%) cases of nodular hyperplasia and 231 (47.1%) cases of cancer of the prostate, giving a nodular hyperplasia to prostate cancer ratio of 1.12:1. Fifty two (52, 20.1%) cases of the nodular hyperplasia were associated with chronic inflammation while 7 (2.7%) were associated with prostatic intraepithelial neoplasm. Prostate adenocarcinoma was the predominant subtype, accounting for 99.1% of cases while ductal carcinoma constituted the remaining 0.9% cases. Gleason scores were adapted to the Grade Group system of the International Society of Urological Pathology and showed that high grade cancers; Grade Groups 4 and 5 were the predominant grades (n=130, 60.5%) followed by Grade Group 1 (n=64, 29.8%) cancers.

Prostate lesions are common lesions encountered in our setting in keeping with reports from other regions in Nigeria. A significant proportion of these lesions are prostate cancers that are poorly differentiated with higher risk of mortality.