Colon Cancers: Epidemiological and Histopathological Aspects in Cameroon

Objective: To determine the epidemiological and histological profile of colon cancer in Cameroon.

Materials and Methods: It was a retrospective descriptive and analytical study on cancers of the colon, histologically proven for 13 years (2004-2016), listed in the registers laboratories of pathology and Oncology of the national territory. The variables studied were the frequency, age, gender, risk factors, location and histopathologic type.

Results: We identified 1047 cases of digestive cancers. The colon with 366 cases (26. 01%) was the second most common location behind the stomach. The average age of the patients was 52. 82 ± 15. 92 years, with extremes ranging from 6 to 89 years old. The male was the most represented with 52. 73% (193 cases), with a male-to-female sex ratio of 1.12. A tumour was sigmoid localisation in 37. 59% of the cases (100 cases on 266 listed locations). Adenocarcinomas were the first histological type with 311 cases (84. 97%) followed by the Kaposi Sarcoma (21 cases; 5.74 percent) and lymphomas (17 cases; 4.65%).

Conclusion: Colon cancers remain a relatively common pathology in Cameroon where it ranks second among malignant tumours of the digestive tract. Women remain less affected than men by this pathology whose dominant histological type is adenocarcinoma. However, these data remain relative given the absence of a cancer register at the national level.