Prostate cancer in Port Harcourt, Nigeria: features and outcome

Background: To present the clinical features and outcome of management of patients with prostate cancer in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Methods: A retrospective study of patients with prostate cancer managed in 14 years at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital. Results: Of 154,594 men above 40 years old who attended the hospital, 177 were treated for prostate cancer, giving a hospital incidence of 114/100,000. Of these, the records of 47 had sufficient data to be included for analysis. Record keeping was poor. The ages ranged from 45 to 88 years with an average of 71.6 years. Forty-three patients (91.5%) presented late with features of advanced disease such as anaemia, spinal cord compression and urinary retention. The diagnosis was made from tissue biopsies, x-rays and biochemical results with clinical findings. The treatment was bilateral subcapsular orchidectomy with or without diethylstilbestrol. The response to treatment in most patients was satisfactory initially but relapse was common and fatal. Conclusions: Record keeping requires urgent attention. Prostate cancer screening should be adopted in line with trends in industrialised countries. Mortality in our patients was mainly from direct complications of prostate cancer. Keywords: Prostate cancer, Features, Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Nig. J. of Surgical Research 4(1-2) 2002: 34-4