Cervical carcinoma in Malawi: a histopathologic study of 260 cases

Cervical carcinoma is the commonest malignancy seen in histopathologic material from Malawi. Between 1975 and 1978, 460 cases were diagnosed, of which 431 were invasive squamous carcinomas. These were reviewed for degree of differentiation and placed into three histologic types. Large cell non-keratinizing carcinoma was the commonest type, and presented at an earlier clinical stage than either large cell keratinizing or small cell non-keratinizing tumors. Of all tumors, 2.8% showed a massive eosinophil infiltrate which was not related to schistosome infection. The clinicopathologic features of cervical carcinoma in Malawi appear to be similar to those found in the United States and Europe.