Evolution of the Histo-Epidemiological Profile of Urological Cancers in Togo

BACKGROUND: Urological cancers are an important public health issue and pose problems with diagnosis and adequate management in developing countries. Our aim was to determine and report epidemiological and histological features of urological cancers in Togo. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective descriptive study was conducted of cases of urological cancers observed in the laboratory of pathological anatomy of the CHU Tokoin over the last 4 years (2012-2016). The parameters studied were frequency, age, sex, sites of development and histological type. RESULTS: Epidemiological data were collected for 182 cases, representing 16.4% of all cancers (1108 cases). The annual frequency was 45.5±1.1 cases on average. The male: female sex ratio was 8.6 with a mean age of 60.2 years. Regarding location, in decreasing order of frequency, the tumors were found in the prostate (n=121 cases; 66.5%), bladder (n=28; 15.4%), kidney (n=19; 10.4%), testis (n=10; 5%), penis (n=3; 1.7%) and scrotum (n=1; 0.5%). Histologically, prostate cancers were predominantly adenocarcinomas (n=116 cases; 95.8%) with a Gleason score of 6 (n=46; 39.7%) predominant. Bladder cancers were mainly squamous cell carcinomas (n=11; 39.3%) followed by transitional carcinomas (n=9 cases; 32.1%) and adenocarcinomas (n=7; 25%). Kidney cancers were predominantly nephroblastomas (n=10, 52.6%) in children and clear cell carcinomas (n=8 cases; 42.1%) in adults. Testicular cancers were Burkitt lymphomas in 5 cases. The cases of penis and scrotum cancers were all squamous cell carcinomas. CONCLUSION: Urological cancers are experiencing an upsurge in frequency in Togo, dominated by prostate cancer, with a high frequency of squamous cell carcinoma of the bladder due to endemic bilharziasis.