Histopathological analysis of non-squamous cell malignancies of the uterine cervix in Maiduguri, Nigeria.

Abstract

Carcinoma of the uterine cervix is the most common gynaecological malignancy in the developing world despite being largely preventable. The non-squamous cancers of the cervix have not been properly documented in our setting. This study is aimed at reviewing the histological types of non-squamous cell cancers of the uterine cervix in relation to the age of presentation, and to analyze some of the histopathological features of adenocarcinomas. Cases of cancer of the cervix histologically diagnosed between January 1989 and December 2004 were extracted from the cancer register of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital. The request forms, slides, and some tissue blocks were retrieved from the archives of the Histopathology Department. The cases were histologically reviewed and the data analyzed using simple statistical methods. A total of 491 cases of cervical cancers were diagnosed. Of these, 432(88.0%) cases were squamous cell carcinomas while 59(12.0%) were non-squamous cell malignancies. Out of the 59 non-squamous cervical cancers, 42(71.2%) were endocervical-type adenocarcinomas, while serous papillary, clear cell, and adenosquamous carcinomas comprised 2(3.4%) cases each. Seven (11.9%) cases were metastatic choriocarcinomas. Over 60% of these cases occurred within the third and fourth decades of life. Adenocarcinomas are the most common non-squamous malignancies of the cervix and their age of presentation was similar to that of their squamous cell counterpart. Haemorrhage and lymphocytic infiltrates were significantly associated with tumour grade while necrosis was independent of tumour grade.