Endometrial Cancer in a Tertiary Hospital in South-South, Nigeria: A 5-Year Review

Background: Endometrial cancer is the most common gynaecological malignancy in developed countries. In sub-Sahara Africa, it is the third commonest gynaecological cancer after carcinoma of cervix and ovary. It affects women in the peri- and post-menopausal years with peak incidence of 50 – 65 years.

Objective: To determine the prevalence, characteristics, prognostic factors, and outcomes of patients treated for endometrial cancer at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria.

Materials and Methods: It was a descriptive study of all the patients with endometrial cancer managed at the gynaecological unit of the FMC, Yenagoa from 1st January, 2016 to 31st December, 2020. Data was extracted from the gynaecological records and entered into a predesigned proforma. All available data were retrospectivelyanalysed using statistical software package and results were then presented in tables and frequencies.

Results: There were 17 cases of endometrial cancer. In the same period, 2,487 gynaecological patients were seen, and the prevalence of endometrial cancer was 0.68%. Endometroid adenocarcinoma was the most common type of the cancer (70.6%), and a majority were diagnosed in Stage 1A of the disease. Sixteen of the women (94.1%) had surgery (laparotomy + hysterectomy) and mean duration of surgery was 116.8±15.5 minutes. One patient had chemotherapy alone.

Conclusion: The overall prognosis as seen in our study is better when compared to cervical and ovarian cancers, not because it is a less malignant tumour, but because presentation to the hospital was earlier, and treatment was also given earlier. Post-menopausal bleeding is much more difficult to ignore than the irregular vaginal bleeding in the younger woman.