Malignant tumours of female genital tract in North Eastern Nigeria.

OBJECTIVE To ascertain the pattern and frequency of malignant tumours of female genital tract in North Eastern Nigeria. DESIGN A retrospective analysis of surgical biopsy materials. SETTING University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, the only teaching hospital in the North Eastern region of Nigeria. SUBJECTS Three hundred and eighty-two cases of female genital malignancies histologically confirmed between January 1st 1991 and December 31st 2000. RESULTS The age range of patients whose specimens were received during the ten year period was three to eighty years. Mean age of presentation was 44.2 years, (SD +/- 13). Cancer of the uterine cervix was the most common (70.5%), followed by ovarian cancer (16.3%), then cancer involving the uterus (8.5%). There was a steep rise in reported cases within the period of study especially for cancer of the cervix. Ovarian tumours were the most common tumours in the teenage group. CONCLUSION The high incidence of cancer of the uterine cervix and the early mean age of presentation of all malignancies underlies the importance of screening programmes and awareness campaign in our community. The study also provides the basis for further analysis of female genital malignancies.