THE RISK OF SPREAD OF PRIMARY PROSTATE CANCER IN PATIENTS WITH THE DISEASE IN PORT HARCOURT, NIGER DELTA REGION OF SOUTHERN NIGERIA.

Monday Komene Sapira*

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Prostate cancer has a hospital incidence of 114/100,000 patients at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), Nigeria. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of high, low and intermediate grades of the disease in patients managed at the hospital. Material and Methods: The study was cross-sectional and descriptive and carried out at UPTH using secondary data retrieved from case files and computerized databases of consecutive patients with prostate cancer treated at the hospital from 01/01/2017 to 31/12/2022. The modified Gleason’s (Minnesota) and the Grade Group grading systems (John Hopkin’s Hospital) were used. Results: Two hundred and four (204) consecutive patients treated during the study period were analyzed. Their mean age was 70.00 ± 2.73 years (50-101 years). The prevalence of poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma of the prostate among patients aged 50 to 64 years was 40% (26 of 65). Those aged 65 years and above were 139 (68.9%) and had prevalence of 43.17%) of poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. Thirteen (20.86%) patients had moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma (Gleason’s scores 3 + 4 = 7 and 4 + 3 = 7). Of the study population (n=204), 86 patients (42.16%) had poorly differentiated prostatic adenocarcinoma. The tumour in seventy-six patients (37.25%) were well-differentiated. Conclusion: Given the high prevalence of primary poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma of the prostate among these patients, irrespective of age groups of the patients, on the ordinal scale of risk stratification, risk of spread of the tumour in them should be high.

Keywords: Adenocarcinoma of the Prostate, Tumour Grades, Prevalence, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.