Epidemiological and clinical aspects of incidental carcinoma of the prostate in Africans: experience at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos and the Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi.

Twenty patients in Lagos and 24 patients in Nairobi with incidental carcinoma of the prostate in resected glands for benign hyperplasia were studied at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (1978-1982) and at Kenyatta National Hospital (1988-1992), respectively. The age range for the Lagos group was 45-78 years with a mean age of 61 years and a peak incidence in the seventh decade (60-69 year age group) compared to the Nairobi group with age range of 50-89 years with a mean age of 66 years and a peak incidence in the eighth decade (70-79 year age group). Both groups had predominantly well differentiated low grade stage TIA (AI) incidental carcinoma of the prostate, being 80% in the Lagos group and 79.2% in the Nairobi group. High grade undifferentiated stage TIB (A2) incidental carcinoma of the prostate was present in 20% of the Lagos group and 20.8% of the Nairobi group. In both groups, the majority of patients (80%) in the Lagos group and (79.2%) in the Nairobi group presented late with similar symptoms of prostatic obstruction.