Trends of histopathology of cervical cancer among women in Durban, South Africa.
BACKGROUND
Cervical squamous cell carcinoma has traditionally been the commonest histological type of cervical cancer. Adenocarcinoma has recently been reported to occur with increasing frequency.


METHODS
This retrospective study was conducted on 2,930 patients with cervical cancer over an eight-year period (1995-2002) recruited from the combined Gynaecology Oncology Clinic at King Edward VIII Hospital (KEH), Pathology Laboratories at KEH, and from the private sector.


RESULTS
In the public sector squamous cell carcinoma was found to be the commonest type of cervical cancer irrespective of ethnicity and age. It was found to occur in over 80% of patients and remained fairly static over the time period. In the private sector, a slightly higher proportion (38.8%) of women had adenocarcinoma, however since the total number of patients were small (85) there was no statistically significant increase in adenocarcinoma relative to squamous cell carcinoma. There was no correlation between the documented risk factors i.e., smoking, contraception and human papillomavirus and histological type of cervical cancer. Similarly, there was no statistically significant relationship between ethnicity, differentiation, type of cervical cancer and age of the patient in both sectors.


CONCLUSIONS
This study has not revealed an increasing incidence in cervical adenocarcinoma in the public setting. However, in the private sector, a significant proportion of black women (38.8%) had adenocarcinoma. All Asian women had adenocarcinoma while 25% of the white women had adenocarcinoma. Although the total number of patients in this group are small (85), these results cannot be ignored.
Moodley
M
M
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Gynaecological Oncology, Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban, South Africa. moodleym29@ukzn.ac.za
Moodley
K
K
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018196:Carcinoma, Adenosquamous / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D055815:Young Adult