Prostate Gland Diseases in Sierra Leone: A Histopathological Study

Background: Prostate diseases pose a huge burden on adult males across all populations. Prostate cancer, for instance, has been the most frequent cancer type and the third most common cause of cancer death in males in low-/medium sociodemographic index (SDI) countries as well as the 21st leading cause of death, overall, in men. Since it is recognized that diseases often showed geographic variations in manifestation, this preliminary study aims to document the types and patterns of prostate pathologies found in histological biopsies in Sierra Leone. Materials and Methods: The study was a four-year retrospective review of prostate gland specimens received in the pathology laboratory of Connaught Hospital, Freetown. The electronic archived reports and specimen reception register were used to extract data regarding patient's age, specimen type and histopathological diagnosis into an Excel spreadsheet, cleaned and then imported into R statistical software for analysis using ggplot2 and flextable packages. Results were presented in tables of frequencies and bar charts. For statistical tests, p-value of 0.05 was accepted as statistically significant. Results: Four hundred and nineteen (419) prostate gland samples were received and processed over four years. Of these, 18.1% (76/419) were open prostatectomies, while 81.9% (343/419) were trucut samples. Two hundred and fifty-nine (259) cases were benign and 153 malignant. The most common lesion was BPH (57.1%) followed by adenocarcinoma (36.3%) Conclusion: Prostate disease is relatively common in Sierra Leone with the age of occurrence same with established trends in other countries of the West African subregion. Benign prostate hyperplasia is the most common prostate disease followed by adenocarcinoma of the prostate.