title: [Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of primary ocular cancers in blacks: our experience with 111 cases].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In this work, the authors aim to study clinical and epidemiological characteristics of ocular and orbital primary cancers in sub-Saharan African.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a retrospective study over a period of 21 years, from 1984 to 2004, including all cases of ocular cancer, histologically proven after surgery of the globe or the orbit. For each patient, we studied the following parameters: age, sex, reason(s) for consultation, the affected eye, and histological result of the operative specimen. These data were collected by studying the departmental surgical registry, patient medical records and the tumor registry of the anatomicopathology laboratory of a tertiary care hospital in sub-Saharan Africa.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We collected data on 111 black patients, among whom 15 cases (13.5%) presented with bilateral involvement, for a total of 126 eyes. The sex ratio was 1.17. Presenting signs showed a predominance of leukocoria (30.2%) followed by proptosis (21.7%) and in third place, protruding conjunctival mass (10.8%). Retinoblastoma was found most frequently, representing 66.6% of the oculo-orbital tumors and 95.45% of the tumors of the globe; followed by epidermoid carcinoma, representing 15.08% of cases. Malignant melanoma was third most common, representing 4.76%, with 83% arising in the anterior uvea and 7% in the choroid. Basal cell carcinoma and rhabdomyosarcoma follow in fourth place. Basal cell carcinoma constituted half (50%) of the eyelid tumors. Rhabdomyosarcoma was the most common orbital tumor in our series (57%). Next were lymphomas with conjunctival localization (2.38%), acute leukemia with orbital localization (1.59%) and rare tumors, palpebral dermatofibrosarcoma (0.79%), an orbital angiosarcoma (0.79%), a glioblastoma of the globe (0.79%) and a malignant solitary fibrous tumor of the orbit (0.79%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Ocular and orbital primary cancers in blacks remain tumors of the young, equally distributed between the sexes. Retinoblastoma is the most frequent, followed by epidermoid carcinoma. The globe is the preferential localization of these cancers.
authors.affiliation: Service ophtalmologie, hôpital principal de Dakar, 1, avenue Nelson-Mandela, BP 3006, Dakar, Sénégal. Electronic address: smseck70@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Seck
authors.affiliation: Service ophtalmologie, hôpital principal de Dakar, 1, avenue Nelson-Mandela, BP 3006, Dakar, Sénégal.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Agboton
authors.affiliation: Service ophtalmologie, hôpital principal de Dakar, 1, avenue Nelson-Mandela, BP 3006, Dakar, Sénégal.
authors.forename: N N
authors.initials: NN
authors.lastname: Gueye
authors.affiliation: Service ophtalmologie, hôpital principal de Dakar, 1, avenue Nelson-Mandela, BP 3006, Dakar, Sénégal.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Diop
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire anatomie pathologique, Dakar, Sénégal.
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Seck
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire anatomie pathologique, Dakar, Sénégal.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lam
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D044383:Black People; D002280:Basal Cell Carcinoma / Q000208:ethnology; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000208:ethnology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003230:Conjunctival Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology; D005134:Eye Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000473:pathology; D005142:Eyelid Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D019337:Hematologic Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000208:ethnology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009378:Neoplasms, Multiple Primary / Q000208:ethnology; D012175:Retinoblastoma / Q000208:ethnology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012208:Rhabdomyosarcoma / Q000208:ethnology; D012675:Senegal; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Blacks; Cancers primitifs; Mélanodermes; Ocular; Oculo-orbitaires; Orbital; Primary cancers