A review of choriocarcinomas in Ghana

Abstract

All cases of confirmed choriocarcinoma received over a period of 30 years from a crass section of hospitals in Ghana were retrieved and studied at the Pathology Department of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra to find out the parameters of the disease in Ghana establish the crude prevalence rate for the disease. A total of 132 cases of choriocarci noma were obtained with an age range of 16- 57 years. The mean age was 29years and peak age was in the 25-29 age group. Patients at the extremes of reproductive age (<20 and >40) formed 25% of cases. The crude prevalence rate assessed in the Karle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) was 0.34/1000 deliveries. Most specimens obtained from evacuation of uterus for incomplete abortions were not sent for histological examination. However, the crude prevalence rate for KBTH was still higher than that for advanced countries and comparable to that of Uganda (0.33/1000 deliveries), which has similar high rales of fertility and pregnancies at extremes of age. The high prevalence of choriocarcinoma, the significant proportion of cases aged grater or equal to 40 years (19.7%) who are at a high risk of developing metastatic disease at the time of diagnosis, and the inadequate information on request cards seen in this study, makes the need for a national register of trophoblastic diseases urgent. This will improve on the rate of reporting cases and the quality of data collected. The pooled data will be a useful tool in the study of the epidemiological and other features of trophoblatic diseases including choriocarcinomas in Ghana.