Histopathologic patterns of cervical Lesions at Jimma University Medical Center, Jimma, South west Ethiopia: A Two Year Retrospective Cross-Sectional study

Abstract

Background: The cervix is the lower portion of the uterus which connects this organ to the vagina through the endocervical canal. Due to the susceptibility of the epithelium of the cervical transformation zone to infection by oncogenic human papilloma virus (HPV), diseases of the cervix account for a burden of morbidity and mortality that is disproportionate to its size. Despite the introduction of cervical screening programs, cancer of the cervix remains one of the most common cancers. Objective: The objective of this study was to determine histopathological patterns of cervical lesions, seen at pathology department of Jimma university medical center, from 12thSeptember 2018 to 11thSeptember 2019. Methods: Data was collected from 469 eligible biopsies reports of cervical lesions and then cleaned, coded and entered into Epidata v3.1 and exported to SPSS version 26 for analysis. Cross tabulation, chi square test and logistic regression with multivariate analysis were done to look for associations between the study variables. Those variables with a P-value <0.25 in a binary logistic regression were recruited for multivariable logistic regressions. The findings were presented using text, tables and charts. Result: In this study, cervical cancer was the most common (71%) cause of cervical lesions that submitted for histopathologic diagnosis with the peak age of incidence in 4th and 5th decades. Squamous cell carcinoma was the most frequent cervical cancer diagnosed during the study period accounting for 95.8% of 333 cancerous cases followed by adenocarcinoma (3.3%) and carcinoma insitu (0.6%). High grade squamous intraepithelial lesion was the most frequently diagnosed precancerous lesion accounting for 67.5% cases.Endocervical polyp was the most commonly diagnosed benign lesion accounting for 59.3% cases.Age and residency were the most statistically significant predictors of cervical cancer. Conclusion: The Maximum age distribution of cervical lesions was in 41-50 years age range. Most cervical lesions were Precancerous and cancerous cervical lesions. Squamous cell carcinoma was the most frequent cervical cancer. High grade squamous intraepithelial lesion was the most frequently diagnosed precancerous cervical lesion. Endocervical polyp was the most commonly diagnosed benign cervical lesion.