Histological types of Gynaecological tumours in the teaching hospital, Ragama over a 9 year period

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Gynaecological malignancies contribute significantly to the mortality of women. The pathological spectrum of ovarian and uterine malignancies is wide and diverse. Differences in incidence of histological types and stages at presentation have been reported. OBJECTIVE: To describe the histological types of ovarian, uterine and fallopian tube malignancies diagnosed at Professorial unit Ragama during the period of 1st January 1999 to 1st May 2008. METHODOLOGY: A descriptive, retrospective study was done using the histopathological reports during the study period. RESULTS: There were 96 ovarian, 44 uterine and 1 fallopian tube malignancies detected during the study period. Out of the 96 ovarian malignancies, 94 (97.9%) were primary ovarian tumours while 2 (2.1%) were secondary tumours. Epithelial tumours were the commonest accounting for 80.9% of primary ovarian malignancies while stromal and germ cell tumours contributed to 9.6% and 5.3% respectively. There were 39 (51.3%) serous tumours, 18 (23.7%) endometrioid tumours and 9(11.9%) mucinous tumours among the epithelial tumours. Immature teratomas were the commonest (60%) germ cell tumour. At presentation 22 (23.4%) were bilateral tumours. Majority 29 (31%) of ovarian malignancies were FIGO stage T11C at diagnosis. Among the uterine malignancies there were 33(75%) endometrial carcinoma, 3(7%) Endometrial stromal sarcoma, 2 (4.5%) leiomyosarcomas, ,and 6 (13.5%) other sarcomas. Most (67%) of the patients who had endometrial carcinomas were FIGO stage 1 at the time of diagnosis. DISCUSSION: Though the proportion of the epithelial tumours were similar to the standard figures, germ cell tumours seems to be less in number. Secondary ovarian tumours seem to be less in our study population. The fact that the ovarian malignancies are diagnosed late is evident by the study.