Tumours of hte central nervous system: analysis of 476 cases observed at the University Hospital of the West Indies

A statistical survey of the incidence, age and sx distribution, and preferential sites of occurrence of tumours of the central nervous system observed at the University Hospital of the West Indies during a 15-year period is presented. Four hundred and seventy-six histologically confirmed neoplasms were recorded. Intracranial tumours were 7 times as common as those of the spinal cord. Of 416 intracrianl neoplasms, ther were 40% neuropithelial tumors, 21% meningiomas, 15% pituitary adenomas, 9% metastic lesions, 6% congenital tumours, 5% vasoformative tumours, 3% nerve sheath tumours and 1% unclassified neoplasms. Men and women were equally affected. Meningiomas and pituitary adenomas were more frequent than in otherreported series. Metastases were relatively more frequent in the spinal than in the intracranial group. Of the primary spinal tumours, those of nerve sheath origin were nearly three times as common as the meningiomas

Risk factors for carninoma of the uterine cervix in jamaican women

Risk factors of cervical cancer include early age at coitus, multipli sexual partners and antibodies to herpes simplex virus, type 2(HSV-2). To examine the interrelationships of these risk factors, a comparison was made between 78 histologically confirmed cancer cases (stages 0-IV) and 151 control women in Jamica. The rank of order of the percentages of control women with low socieconomic status, first coitus before 20 years of age, first pregnancy before 20 years of age and more than two sexual partners were: 77,97,65, and 76 respectively. The percentage of women with cancer who had coitus before 20 years of age (77) and 2 or more partners (55) were lower than that of controls. A third factors associated with cervical cancer is the presence of HSV-2 antibodies. The age-specific prevalence of HSV-2 antibodies varied from 7% to 32% in women aged 21-69 years. An increase in prevalence of HSV-2 antibodies was observed with increasin age. The age-adjusted prevalence was 11 per cent. The age-specific occurrence of HSV-2 antibodies in cancer cases varied from 6% to 28% with a prevalence of 7.8%. The mean antibody titres in cancer cases were not statistically significant as compared with matched controls (p > 0.01). the data suggest that infection with HSV-2 is a covariable of veneral factors, and the role of the virus in the genesis of some cases of cervical cancer in Jamaican women may not be excluded