Prostate Cancer Disease Characteristics at the Time of Diagnosis and Initial Treatment Offered in a Tertiary Hospital at Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)

Objectives: to describe the characteristics of newly diagnosed prostate cancer (PCa) and the initial treatments offered to patients in the most important urological center of Burkina Faso. Methods: We analyzed the data of a cohort of 168 consecutive patients with no prior history of PCa between January 2009 and December 2012. Diagnosis of PCa was based on histological analysis of transrectal prostate biopsies. Patient and disease characteristics and the initial treatment offered were taken in account. Results: The mean age at presentation was 68.59 ± 9.41 years (range 30 to 95 years). There was a 3.6-fold increase in the incidence of PCa through the four years of the study. The mean duration of symptoms prior to presentation was 11.6 ± 10.9 months. The majority of cases (86.9%) were presented as locally advanced or metastatic disease. Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) was the first therapeutic option for 121 patients (72%) and 73 patients (43.4%) underwent ADT through bilateral orchiectomy. Only 3 patients (1.78%) underwent radical prostatectomy. Conclusion: An increase in the diagnosis of PCa in our country was observed in this study. The diagnosis of prostate cancer was usually tardive in Burkina Faso. Treatment often involves surgical ADT for socioeconomic reasons.