The purpose of this study was to evaluate the socio-demographic and clinicopathological features of patients with cervical cancer seen in a comprehensive cancer center in North-western Nigeria. It was a six years retrospective study of patients with cervical cancer treated in the Department of Radiotherapy and Oncology, UDUTH, Sokoto. Data was obtained from the patients’ case notes using a semi-structured data extraction form. A total of 220 cases were reviewed for patients whose mean age was 49.9 years (SD ± 11.9); with the age range of 24-87 years. Results show that squamous cell carcinoma was the most common histological type seen in 182(82.7%) of the patients, followed by adenocarcinoma 22(10%) and clear cell carcinoma 9(4.1%). Vaginal bleeding 110(50%), foul-smelling vaginal discharge103 (46.8%), fatigue 67(30.5%), lower abdominal pain 65(20.5%) and weight loss 30(13.6%) were the commonest clinical features. 176(80%) patients presented late stages (IIB – IVB) of cervical cancer. Concluding, most of the women with cervical cancer presented with features of vaginal bleeding or foul-smelling vaginal discharge, weight loss, fatigue and lower abdominal pain, with commonest histological categorization being squamous cell carcinoma. Late presentation of the disease was obviously observed in most of the cases diagnosed. The clinical features of cervical cancer identified in the cases reviewed are indicators of advanced disease. Thus, it is imperative that advocacy for cervical cancer screening should be stepped up in order to ensure early detection and prevent the progression of the disease to advanced stages.
Cervical cancer (CC) has been identified as a leading cause of cancer-related death of women in Nigeria. Unfortunately, treatment for CC induces renal function injury due to nephrotoxicity of commonly used cytotoxic medications and radiotherapy. The aim of this study was to determine whether radiotherapy consistently impairs the renal function of cervical cancer patients after treatment as claimed by literature. The study was an ex post facto research, for retrospective evaluation of documented information on 220 cervical cancer patients treated in the Department of Radiotherapy, Usman Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH), Sokoto, Nigeria. The study covered a six-year period from January, 2010 to December, 2015. Data were obtained from the patients’ case notes using a semi-structured data extraction form. Independent t-test and chi-square statistics were used to obtain and interpret results from the analysis of the data. The study hypothesis one states that there would be both positive and negative effects of radiotherapy on the renal function of patients with cervical cancer. But no significant difference was found regarding the effect of radiotherapy on renal function of the patients with cervical cancer at χ2 (1, N=220) = .284, P = 288. Hypothesis two states that there was no statistically significant difference in the Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR) of the patients, measured before and after treatment (t (219) = -0.66, P> 0.5). Extrapolating from the study results revealed that radiotherapy does not only cause renal function impairment, but also enhances renal function among patients with cervical cancer. The study however recommends that there should be a constant monitoring of the GFR for every patient with cervical cancer underdoing radiotherapy.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.