A review of the epidemiology of cancers at the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia

Abstract

This is a retrospective study based on pathology reports of specimens reviewed at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) pathology laboratory in Lusaka, Zambia, from January 1997 to December 2005. UTH is the main reference hospital in Zambia and has a catchment area covering 1.3 million people. The most common cancer among men was Kaposi's sarcoma followed by cancer of the eye, soft tissue sarcomas and cancer of the prostate. The most common cancer among women was cancer of the cervix, followed by cancer of the eye, cancer of the breast and Kaposi's sarcoma. Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is the fifth most common cancer in both men and women. There has been a significant change in the pattern of malignancies at the UTH over the last 20 years, with an increase in Kaposi's sarcoma, cancer of the cervix and cancer of the eye.