Description of age; sex and site distribution of large bowel cancer in the middle belt of Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Aims/Objective: To determine the distribution of bowel cancer with special emphasis on age; sex and site. Methods: One hundred and sixty cases of histologically confirmed large bowel cancers at Jos University Teaching Hospital between January 1991-December 2000 were reviewed. The records were collected from the registry of histopathology laboratory. Information regarding sex; age and site of cancers in the large bowel were extracted from referral forms and case notes. Results: The cancers occurred more commonly between the ages of 31 and 60 years. The site distribution showed that more men were affected than women. The rectum was the commonest site; which accounted for 56.9 followed by colon 32; caecum 8 and anal canal 3. The colonic cancers were more common in female than male; accounting for 56.9 and 43.1 respectively. Adenocarcinoma was the commonest histological type occurring in 90 percent of cases. None of the resected specimens could reveal a case of familial polyposis. Two cases of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma were recorded and one was in the youngest patient aged 10 years. There was histological evidence of schistosomiasis in two caecal and one rectal adenocarcinoma in this series. Conclusion: This study showed that bowel cancers are not rare as previously believed. The patients also present at a younger age in our population. Routine screening for bowel cancer in all risk patients should be carried out regularly so as to detect cancer early