Cancers in Togo from 1984 to 2008: Epidemiological and Pathological Aspects of 5251 Cases

Objective. To describe the epidemiological and histological aspects of cancers in Togo. Materials and Methods. We made a retrospective review of the epidemiological and pathological features of cancers observed from 1984 to 2008 at the laboratory of pathology of CHU-TOKOIN in Lome, Togo. Results. During our study period, we found 5251 cases of cancers with an annual average frequency of 210 cases. The sex ratio, male/female, was 0.9 and the average age of occurring was 45.3 years. This average age was 46.9 years for men and 43.8 years for women. The most frequent cancers for men were prostate cancer (12.9%), nonmelanoma skin cancer (10.4%), and gastric cancer (10.3%). For women it was breast cancer (27.1%), cervix cancer (11.2%) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (6.3%). Histologically, it was carcinomas in 68.1% of the cases, sarcomas in 11% of the cases and non-Hodgkin lymphomas in 12.6% of the cases. Children cancers were primarily Burkitt lymphoma (27.9% of cases) and retinoblastoma (8.5% of cases). Conclusion. This study shows that cancers are frequent in Togo and emphasizes on the necessity of having a cancer register for the prevention and the control of this disease in Togo.