Sobia Mohyuddin, Nighat Sultana, Khawar Awais Butt, Adeela Mohyuddin.
Patterns of gynaecological malignancies at a tertiary care hospital.
Pak J Med Health Sci Jan ;6(1):47-50.

Objective: To study the clinicopathological pattern of gynaecological malignancies including the frequency, age distribution, clinical presentation, stage at diagnosis and histopathological types. Study design: Descriptive observational study. Place and duration of study: The Gynaecology and Obstetrics Department of Combined Military Hospital Rawalpindi from January 2009 to December 2010. Material and methods: A total of 10,799 women were admitted during the study period. All patients having genital tract malignancies were included by purposive non probability sampling. All benign tumours were excluded. Relevant details regarding histories, physical examination and investigations were obtained. Necessary surgical procedures were performed. Cancers were staged clinically and surgically as required and confirmed histopathologically. Results: The frequency of gynaecological cancer was 35(0.32%) cases out of the total 10,799 admissions at our institution. Ovarian cancers were the most frequent 22(62.86%), followed by uterine 8(22.86%) and cervical cancers 5(14.29%).Ovarian cancer presented mostly in the 50-75 years while uterine cancer in 60-75 years and cervical cancer in 40-49 years age groups respectively. Serous cystadenocarcinoma was the most frequent among ovarian cancers, 12(54.55%); whereas endometrioid adenocarcinoma, 6(75%) and sq. cell carcinoma, 3(60%) were the prevalent types among uterine and cervical cancers respectively. Abdominal distension, 13(37%), gastrointestinal upsets, 11(31%), irregular vaginal bleeding 9(26%), post menopausal bleeding 11(31%) and vaginal discharge 11(31%) were the most common symptoms. Most ovarian cancers presented in advanced stages, 21(95.4%), while uterine cancers were mostly in early stages at diagnosis, 5(62.5%). Conclusion: Ovarian cancer in advanced stages was the most common gynaecological malignancy encountered. Awareness regarding early symptoms in women and a further detailed study about epidemiology and effectiveness of screening modalities needs to be carried out to reduce the burden of gynaecological malignancy.

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