Case Records And Commentaries Presented For The Award Of The Degree Of Master Of Medicine (Obstetrics And Gynaecology)

Abstract

4305 histologically proven malignancies of the female genital tract and the female breast are presented. The period covered was 15 years beginning from 1969 to 1984. Cancer of uterine cervix was the most frequent diagnosis constituting 2548(59.2%) out of 4305 cases. This was followed by carcinoma of the female breast 1072(24.9%), cancer of the ovary 253(5.9%), cancer of

the vulva 154(3.6%), cancer of the endometrium 91(2.9%), Choriocarcinoma 79(1.8%), cancer of the uterine corpus 59(1.4%) and lastly cancer of the vagina 49(1.1%). There were no diagnosis of cancer of the fallopian tubes. Both the cancers of the cervix and breast made the bulk of the diagnosis constituting 3620(84.1%) out of 4305 malignancies.

Cancer of the uterine cervix and that of the female breast showed similar age distribution with peak age group falling between 40 - 49 years. Carcinoma of the

vulva, uterine body, and that of the endometrium had peak age group at 60 - 69 years. The carcinoma of the ovary was generally distributed throughout and showed a peak at age group 50 - 59 years. There were no reports of chorio-

carcinoma after 49 years and majority occured at age group 30 - 39 years.

Parity status was stated in only 1801(40%) of the cases. Only 19% of the cases were staged and nearly all the staged diseases were those of the cervix.

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The tribe of the patients was known in 2901(64.4%) and the Kikuyus were the majority constituting 1221(42.1%) of the tribes. This was followed by the Kamba 429(14.8%), the Luo 333(11.5%), coastal tribes 175 (6.0%) with the other tribes making minimal contributions