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Abdul Sami Ibrahimkhil, Haider Ali Malakzai, Ahmed Maseh Haidary, Nasrin Hussaini, Jamshid Abdul-Ghafar Department of Pathology and Clinical Laboratory, French Medical Institute for Mothers and Children (FMIC), Kabul, AfghanistanCorrespondence: Jamshid Abdul-Ghafar, Tel +93 792 827 287, Email jamshid.jalal@fmic.org.afPurpose: In Afghanistan, research work is still in its infancy and there is no national level tumor registry at the moment in the country that could elaborate the histopathological features of ovarian tumors in the country. The current study was conducted with the aim to describe pathological characteristics of ovarian tumors diagnosed at tertiary level in Afghanistan.Patients and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted, including 198 cases diagnosed with ovarian tumors, that were consecutively included in the study from July 2017 to August 2020. All the cases were diagnosed at the Department of Pathology, French Medical Institute for Mothers and Children, Kabul, Afghanistan, that receives biopsy samples from all of the tertiary care institutions in Kabul.Results: In the current study, majority of the ovarian tumors were benign and presented with nonspecific symptoms. The mean age at diagnosis was 34.4 (SD ± 13.4). Benign tumors comprised 81.8%, borderline 1.5% and malignant 16.7% of the cases. Majority of the diagnosed tumors were from surface epithelium in origin, followed by germ cell tumors, sex cord stromal tumors, and a single metastatic tumor. The most common benign neoplasm was mature cystic teratoma, followed by benign serous cystadenoma. Considering the malignant tumors, serous cystadenocarcinoma and adult granulosa cell tumors were predominant, followed by endometrioid adenocarcinoma and mucinous cystadenocarcinoma. More than half of the ovarian tumors occurred between 21 and 40 years of age.Conclusion: In the current study, the proportion of malignant ovarian neoplasms was significantly less than benign lesions. Although, many of the pathological features related to ovarian neoplasms were similar to the features demonstrated in other regions of the world, there were important findings that were exclusively noted in the cases diagnosed in Afghanistan.Keywords: pathological features, ovarian neoplasms, benign, malignant, Afghanistan

Haider Ali Malakzai,1 Ahmed Maseh Haidary,1 Saleema Gulzar,2 Mujtaba Haidari,1 Abdul Sami Ibrahimkhil,3 Ramin Saadaat,1 Ahmadullah Hakimi,1 Sayed Murtaza Sadat Hofiani,4 Soma Rahmani,5 Jamshid Abdul-Ghafar1 1Department of Pathology and Clinical Laboratory, French Medical Institute for Mothers and Children (FMIC), Kabul, Afghanistan; 2School of Nursing and Midwifery, Aga Khan University (AKU), Karachi, Pakistan; 3Central Public Health Laboratories (CPHL), Kabul, Afghanistan; 4Department of Academics and Research, Postgraduate Medical Education (PGME), French Medical Institute for Mothers and Children (FMIC), Kabul, Afghanistan; 5World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian and Economic Assistance Programmes Relating to Afghanistan (UNOCA) Compound, Kabul, AfghanistanCorrespondence: Jamshid Abdul-Ghafar, Tel +93 792827287, Email jamshid.jalal@fmic.org.afPurpose: Cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity, and therefore, tremendous research work is continuously being done around the world with consideration of etiopathogenesis as well as identification of therapeutic targets. Decades of continuous war in Afghanistan has left the medical infrastructure of the country in a miserable situation. There is a serious deficiency in research work in the fields of pathology and oncology at the moment with minimal data available to elaborate about the demographic characteristics of various malignant disorders in the country, which would be indispensable to pave the way for further research and development.Patients and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted to describe the prevalence, distribution, and important histopathological features of malignant tumors reported at tertiary level in Afghanistan.Results: Out of 2328 consecutive cases of solid malignant tumors included in our study, 93.8% were primary and 6.2% were metastatic. Breast was the most common site of origin for primary malignancy (29.5%) in females; however, in males, esophagus was the leading site for primary malignant tumors (16.3%). Invasive ductal carcinoma was the most common histologic type of malignancy in females (87.9%). However, in both genders, squamous cell carcinoma of esophagus and skin, osteosarcoma of bone and soft tissue, and glioblastoma of central nervous system were the most common histologic types of malignancies diagnosed. Small intestine was a frequently involved site affected by extranodal non-Hodgkin lymphomas. Overall, the majority of the cancers were diagnosed in stage-II.Conclusion: Findings in our study were somewhat similar to data presented elsewhere in the world, with some significant differences that could be related to the local factors. Our study revealed that most of the malignant tumors were diagnosed in later stages of the disease, attributable to scarcity of specialized oncology institutions and public awareness.Keywords: cancer, prevalence, lymphoma, sarcoma, Afghanistan