Gynaecological cancer-related deaths in a tertiary hospital: A fouryear retrospective review

Mongezi Siqana, Lawrence Chauke, Langanani Mbodi

Abstract

The aim of this study is to describe the profile, causes of death, and associated complications among women who died with a diagnosis of gynecological cancer during a four-year period in a gynae oncology unit in a tertiary hospital. The study is based on a retrospective review of clinical records of patients. There were 368 gynecological cancer admissions during the study period and 51 gynecological cancer-related deaths (13.8%); however, only 48 (13%) of the 51 files were available for analysis. The mean age of the women who died was 52.7 years (SD ±16.92). Most of the women who died were South African citizens (41, 85%), black (44, 91.7%) and unemployed (37, 77.1%). The most common comorbidities were hypertension and HIV which occurred at similar frequencies (20, 41.7%), followed by diabetes mellitus (7, 14,6%). The three most common cancers were cervical (18, 37.5%), ovarian (13, 27.1%), and endometrial (12, 25,0%). All women who died (48, 100%) had some form of cancer-related complications on admission to the hospital. The most common complication at presentation was obstructive uropathy (16, 31.3%) followed by ascites (11, 21.6%) and pleural effusion (8, 15.8%). Just less than half of the patients (22, 45.8%) received palliative treatment due to advanced-stage disease, and the remainder, (20, 41.6%) and (5, 10.4%) surgical and radiation therapy, respectively. The surgical procedure performed was staging laparotomy for ovarian and endometrial cancer (19, 95%) and radical hysterectomy and lymph node dissection for operatable cervical cancer (01, 5%). Forty-nine complications were recorded among the 20 women who underwent surgical treatment. The most common complications were sepsis and hemorrhage followed by organ injury.

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