A STUDY OF TUMOURS OF THE EYE AND OCULAR ADNEXA SEEN AT THE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE HOSPITAL, IBADAN, NIGERIA BETWEEN JANUARY 2003 AND DECEMBER 2012

Abstract

Background
The aim of this study was to analyse the clinicopathological profile of tumours of the eyes and
ocular adnexa in Ibadan, Nigeria.
Materials and methods
The slides and tissue blocks of tumours of eye and ocular adnexa diagnosed in the Department of
Pathology, UCH, Ibadan, Nigeria from January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2012 were retrieved.
Slides were reviewed and where blocks were retrievable from archives appropriate histochemical
and immunohistochemical panels were applied for confirmation of definitive diagnosis and for
disease sub-classification.
The data obtained was analysed, employing the student’s t test for continuous variables and the
chi-squared test for discontinuous variables, with the level of statistical significance set at p ≤
0.05.
Results
There were 272 cases, 121 (44.5%) male and 151 (55.5%) female patients. Their mean age was
27 ± 23.6 years, with peak occurrence in the first decade. Right-sided lesions were more
common (64%) than left-sided (34.9%) or bilateral lesions (1.1%). Seventy five (27.6%) cases
involved the ocular adnexa, while 74 (27.2%) cases each involved the globe and
conjunctiva/cornea respectively. Malignant tumours comprised 164 cases (60.3%). Most
intraocular were malignant, while most eyelid tumours were benign. The two commonest cancers
were retinoblastoma 72 (43.9%) and squamous cell carcinoma 44 (26.8%). The two commonest
benign tumours and tumour-like lesions were squamous papilloma 17 (15.7%) and dermoid cyst
14 (13%).
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Conclusion
The findings in this study are similar to those of previous African studies. The majority of eye
and ocular adnexa tumours are malignant, the commonest malignant tumours being
retinoblastoma, followed by squamous cell carcinoma. Females are more affected than males and
almost half of all the tumours of the eye and adnexa occurred in children and majority of these
are malignant. Immunohistochemistry was helpful in confirming the diagnosis of eye and ocular
adnexa tumours such as lymphoma, malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumour,
rhabdomyosarcoma, Kaposi sarcoma and malignant melanoma.