Carcinoma of bladder in Kenya
Bowry, T.R.
East African Medical Journal 52(7): 356-364
1975
ISSN/ISBN: 0012-835X PMID: 1164902 Document Number: 83354
Analysis of 76 cases of bladder carcinoma in Kenya revealed 39% to be schistosomal carcinomas, i.e. eggs or worms were found on biopsy or urine examination. Schistosomiasis occurred in 17 of 33 with squamous cell carcinoma, 8 of 27 with transitional cell carcinoma, 6 of 13 with anaplastic carcinoma and one of 4 with adenocarcinoma. The average age for schistosomal carcinoma was 45 years and that for non-schistosomal cancers from non-endemic areas was 60.7. The disease formed 0.92% of all cancers reported from Kenya, compared with 2% in the white population of Europe and North America. In the Kenyans, age peaks occurred in the 4th and 7th decades, compared with only the latter peak from the other 2 populations. The early peak is partly explained by the occurrence of schistosomal cancers about 15 years earlier than non-schistosomal cancers, which occur twice as commonly in the first 50 years in Kenya as in Europe.