Histopathological characterization of lung tumours at the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia: a pilot study

Abstract

Background: There are limited data on histological classification of primary lung cancer from sub-Saharan Africa. Furthermore, the time trends of age-truncated incidence rates of lung cancer by histological phenotype in Zambia are also unknown.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine histological types of lung tumours at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka, Zambia.

Methods: This was a retrospective pilot study of lung tumour biopsies collected from the histopathology laboratory at the UTH over a period of one year. Tissue sections were stained and when seen, lung cancer was classified using standard histological methods. Data were analysed using IBM SSPS version 23.

Results: A total of 23 lung cancer tissues were retrieved. Histological types included eleven (47.8%) squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), six (26.1%) adenocarcinoma, two (8.7%) small cell carcinoma, two (8.7%) large cell carcinoma, 1 (4.3%) inflammatory myofibroblastic tumours and 1 (4.3%) pleural pulmonary blastoma. The results showed that the most affected age group was 60-69 years with most of the histological subtype in this age group being SCC. There was no statistically significant difference of histological subtypes across age groups, p=0.12.

Conclusion: This study has shown that the most commonly diagnosed type of primary lung cancer is squamous cell carcinoma. More data are needed to further corroborate this observation.

Keywords: Lung cancer; Zambia; histopathology.

Figure 1

Photomicrographs showing various histological types of lung tumour (a) Adenocarcinoma, showing a glandular pattern of cancer cells; (b) Squamous cell carcinoma, showing an aggregation of squamous malignant cells; (c) Large cell carcinoma, showing characteristic large cells. Images at x40. (H & E staining)