Clinicopathology and Treatment Patterns of Head and Neck Cancer at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, Radiotherapy Center, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
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Date
2019-09
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Background: Breast cancer is a major public health problem with significant morbidity and mortality in women worldwide. Studies in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have shown that the estimated 5-year survival in women with breast cancer is below 50%, which is significantly lower than those from developed countries. There is limited data on survival of patients treated for breast cancer in Ethiopia.
Objective: The aim of this study is to asses the five-year survival of breast cancer patients treated at Oncology Department of Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital (TASH).
Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study that asses the survival of and contributing factors of patients that were evaluated and treated at TASH between September 2014 and August 2015 G.C. Data was extracted from patient file by data collectors under the supervision of the primary investigator using structured questionnaire. Patients and/or their relatives were contacted through phone call and for those patients who were not available over the phone, the last date of follow up was used to calculate overall survival (OS). The data was analyzed using SPSS 22 software.
Results: Out of a total of 249 patient charts collected based on HMIS data, 216 cases were found eligible for our study. On further evaluation of the 216 cases, only 181 patients were eligible for the final analysis as 35 patients had some data missing (error of date entry on excel) or were lost from follow up by more than 6 months and couldn’t be contacted over the phone. The mean age of presentation was 43 (SD) years. Most patients (38.1%) had a stage III disease at presentation followed by stage IV disease 31.5%. Only 4.4% of our patients were stage I. The median survival was 27 months where the 5-year OS was 44.2%. Stage at diagnosis, duration before the initiation of Adjuvant chemotherapy, number of chemotherapy cycles, the use of hormonal therapy and its duration were significantly associated with survival.
Conclusion/recommendation: The outcome of stage III & IV patients in our study is very low by the western standards. We should devise a policy to increase public awareness, so that we can get these patients at an earlier stage. In addition, we have to increase access to recent treatment modalities and expand the available cancer centers.
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Keywords
Clinicopathology ,head and neck cancer