HISTOPATHOLOGICAL PATTERN OF BLADDER CANCER IN KANO: A TEN YEAR RETROSPECTIVE REVIEW (2002-2011)

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Bladder cancer is a common urologic cancer and is ranked as the 9th
most frequent malignancy and the 13th most fatal globally. In Nigeria,
the incidence, histologic types, age and sex distribution vary among
various published reports. This ten year retrospective histopathological
review was carried out to evaluate the frequency of and determine the
age and sex distribution of various histologic types of bladder cancer
received in the Histopathology department of Aminu Kano Teaching
Hospital from January 1, 2002 to December 31, 2011, as well as
compare the findings with previous studies in Nigeria, Africa and the
rest of the world.
MATERIALS AND METHOD
Laboratory request forms and duplicate copies of histology reports were
retrieved and relevant clinical information such as age, sex and
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histological types were extracted. Haematoxylin and eosin stained slides
were reviewed and evaluated.
RESULTS
A total of 247 bladder cancer cases were received during this period, 12
of which had incomplete data, leaving 235 cases for this study. There
were 204 cases from males (86.8%) and 31 from females (13.2%) giving
a male to female ratio 6.5:1. The ages ranged from 10 months to 75 years
with a mean age of presentation at 45.5 years. The most common variant
of bladder cancer was urothelial carcinoma with 117 cases (49.8%)
followed by squamous cell carcinoma with 102 cases (43.4%). Urothelial
carcinoma had a mean age of presentation at 51.5 years with peak
incidence in the 6th decade of life and male to female ratio of 8.7:1.
Squamous cell carcinoma had a mean age of presentation at 38.6 years
with peak incidence in the 5th decade with male to female ratio of 5:1.
Thirteen cases of adenocarcinoma were recorded in this study. All of
them were seen in males and their ages ranged from 40-89 years with a
mean age of 53.7 years. One case each of embryonal
rhabdomyosarcoma, angiosarcoma and pleomorphic rhabdomyosarcoma
was recorded in this study.

CONCLUSION

This study shows that bladder cancer is a common malignancy in
Kano with a marked male preponderance. Urothelial carcinoma is
the most common histological variant of bladder cancer in this study,
a reverse of the finding of an earlier study on bladder cancers in Kano
which found squamous cell carcinoma to be the most common
variant. This changing histological profile of bladder cancer is,
however, consistent with some local and international studies.