Surgical malignancies in a mining town on the copper belt in Zambia

Surgical Malignancies are not a common cause of admission to the mine hospital in Chingola – Zambia, however they do occur; they formed 0.4% of the admissions during the study. These were due to malignant disease affecting people of all ages. In this study, the youngest was two years old and the oldest was 75. The mean age was 40.8 years. The affected population was relatively young. Nearly all the patients were from the Bantu ethnic grouping (97.6%). Both females and males were equally affected (M:F 1:1). The Most prevalent malignancies were of the Reticulo-endotheleal system (44.5%) followed by tumours of the GIT(18.8%). Kaposi’s sarcoma was the most common, it formed 71.9% of the Reticulo-endotheleal system tumours and 32% of all the tumours. This endothelial tumour was first described by Kaposi in 1872.It is histologically described as a vasoformative tumor. It is a multifocal metastasizing malignant reticulosis with features resembling those of Angiosarcoma5. Clinical diagnosis is straightforward.