Prostatic tumours in Benin City, Nigeria

Prostatic tumours accounted for 10.2% of all surgical specimens from male patients received in the Department of Anatomic Pathology of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Nigeria between 1973 and 1990. Nodular prostatic hyperplasia accounted for 83% of the cases and the peak age incidence was in the sixth decade of life. Prostatic cancer occurred in the remaining 17% of the cases and the peak age incidence for occurrence was in the seventh decade of life. The commonest malignant neoplasms encountered were adenocarcinomas, out of which 64% were-well 27% moderately-and 9% poorly-differentiated. Sixty-one adenocarcinomas were classified as cases of incidental carcinoma of the prostate. Rare histological variants of prostatic cancer encountered in the present study included a case each of mucinous carcinoma, transitional cell carcinoma and rhabdomyosarcoma.