Assessment of gynecologic malignancies: a multi-center study in Tehran (1995-2005).

OBJECTIVE

The observed differences in cancer incidence are mainly due to different individuals and social risk factors. This study aims to demonstrate the characteristics of female genital malignancies according to the pathological records in Tehran, Iran.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

In this cross-sectional study, all records of pathological specimens categorized as ovarian, uterine corpus or uterine cervix cancers from 1995 to 2005, in five teaching hospitals in Tehran, were studied. Age, marriage, parity, menopausal status, smoking, oral contraceptive usage, pathological staging, and histological grading were reviewed by a trained general practitioner. SPSS 14 was used for statistical analysis.

RESULT: Mean age (SD) at the time of diagnosis was 50 (15). Fifty-nine percent of ovarian, 33.9 and 47.7% of uterine corpus and uterine cervix malignant patients were premenopausal. About 90% of all were nonsmokers and 82.7% were multiparae. Various types of gynecologic malignancies included ovarian (55.5%), uterine corpus (24.9%), and uterine cervical cancers (19.6%) were diagnosed. In tumors of the uterine corpus and uterus cervix, the most frequent stage of diagnosis was stage IIA.

CONCLUSION

Ovarian cancer was the most frequently occurring gynecologic tumor. Although distribution of age in ovarian cancer was similar to that mentioned in the literature, occurrence of the cancer was more frequent in the premenopausal state.