Profile of gynecologic malignancies reported at a tertiary care center in India over the past decade: Comparative evaluation with international data

Objective: Comprehensive statistics on gynecologic malignancies reported from India are deficient. This study was performed to ascertain the profile of gynecologic cancers reported at our center regarding incidence, histologic subtypes, frequency of involvement at various sites and stage at presentation. We endeavored to compare our data with gynecologic cancers reported at other national and international centers. Materials and Methods: Retrospective review of records of gynecologic cancers obtained from Departments of Pathology and Gynecology, at a tertiary care center, Delhi from January 2000 to December 2009 was performed. Comparison with international data was performed using Fishchers exact test and chi square tests. Results: A total of 1315 gynecologic cancers were reported. Cervical malignancies were the commonest at our center as compared to uterine malignancies in data from Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program of United States and European Union. All malignancies except cervical cancers affected a younger age group at our center than in the US population. Cervical cancer presented at a relatively more advanced stage, ovarian cancers at more localized stages, whereas uterine cancers presented at similar stages as compared to Western data. Conclusions: Our registry presents composite data from North India. Higher age and advanced stage at presentation of cervical cancers suggests lacunae in screening programs available. Ovarian malignancies were more localized at presentation than in the Western population for which environmental or genetic factors may be causative.