Patterns of practice in palliative radiotherapy in Africa - case revisited.

Aims: To investigate patterns of practice in palliative radiotherapy in Africa.

Materials And Methods: Fifteen centres in Africa provided detailed information about radiotherapy in both metastatic and locally advanced disease via a questionnaire. Information included general information (institution status, equipment, staff, patient number), radiotherapy and other treatment characteristics in bone metastasis, brain metastasis, metastatic spinal cord compression, lung and liver metastasis, as well as locally advanced tumours.

Histolopathological patterns of cervical carcinoma seen at a radiotherapy centre in Ibadan, Nigeria.

Background: The treatment of cervical carcinoma is dependent on many factors including histological types and degree of differentiation. Degree of differentiation is an important consideration in determining the prognostic outcome.

Objective: The study investigates the histological pattern and grades of cervical cancer tumours seen at a radiotherapy centre in Ibadan, Nigeria.

Palliative two-dimensional radiotherapy of pancreatic carcinoma: a feasibility study.

Aims And Background: The aim of the study was to analyze the dose to be administered with two-dimensional involved-field palliative radiotherapy in advanced pancreatic carcinoma with respect to current dose-volume constraints (QUANTEC).

Methods And Study Design: The following standard regimens were evaluated: 30 Gy at 3 Gy/fraction (regimen A), 36 Gy at 2.4 Gy/fraction (regimen B), 45 Gy at 1.

Histolopathological Patterns of Cervical Carcinoma Seen at A Radiotherapy Centre in Ibadan, Nigeria.

Introduction: The treatment of cervical carcinoma is dependent on many factors including histological types and degree of differentiation. Degree of differentiation is an important consideration in determining the prognostic outcome.

Objective: The study is to describe the histological pattern of cervicer cancer seen in our practice with emphasis on tumour differentiation.

Forward-planned intensity modulated radiation therapy using a cobalt source: A dosimetric study in breast cancer.

This analysis evaluates the feasibility and dosimetric results of a simplified intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) treatment using a cobalt-therapy unit for post-operative breast cancer. Fourteen patients were included. Three plans per patient were produced by a cobalt-60 source: A standard plan with two wedged tangential beams, a standard tangential plan optimized without the use of wedges and a plan based on the forward-planned "field-in-field" IMRT technique (Co-FinF) where the dose on each of the two tangential beams was split into two different segments and the two segments weight was determined with an iterative process.

The mobile phone as a tool in improving cancer care in Nigeria.

Objective: The use of mobile phone as a tool for improving cancer care in a low resource setting.

Methods: A total of 1176 oncology patients participated in the study. Majority had breast cancer.

Broncho-Oesophageal Fistula (BOF) Secondary to Missing Partial Denture in an Alcoholic in a Low Resource Country.

The clinical course of a missing partial denture with secondary BOF in an alcoholic is presented. In the index case we report an exceptional clinical course of a patient who did not ascribe his symptoms to his ''missing'' dentures for several years, the odontologist who replaced an unrecovered denture, and the generalist who administered the barium swallow in an unsuspected BOF. Preoperative optimization of the patient was by blenderized local feeds through a feeding tube gastrostomy and by chest physiotherapy.

Liver function tests profile in cancer patients on cytotoxic chemotherapy: a preliminary report.

Aims And Objectives: To assess liver function in Nigerian cancer patients undergoing cytotoxic chemotherapy, with a view to contributing to the existing literature and possibly making recommendations for better management of the affected patients in Nigerian hospitals.

Patients And Methods: Serum levels of total bilirubin (TB), alanine amino transferase (ALT), aspartate amino transferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total protein (TP), albumin (ALB) and De Ritis ratio (AST/ALT) were determined in 50 cancer patients both before and after chemotherapy and 50 age- and sex-matched control individuals. The data obtained were analysed using Microsoft Office Excel 2003.

Psychosocial effects of mastectomy on married African women in Northwestern Nigeria.

Objectives: Few studies have examined the psychosocial impact of breast cancer and its treatment on African women who come from a poverty-stricken, uneducated background in a developing country. The purpose of this study was to describe the specific psychosocial effects of breast cancer on married African women in order to help physicians educate and counsel future women and their families in Northwestern Nigeria.

Methods: Two semi-structured, self-report questionnaires were given to 81 consenting married African women treated with unilateral total mastectomy secondary to operable breast cancer at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital.

Radiochemotherapy in the elderly with lung cancer.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality with the median age of incidence being 69 years in males and 67 years in females. Radiochemotherapy (RT-CHT) is indicated in locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer and limited-stage small-cell lung cancer; however, a significant under-representation of the elderly has been observed in patient recruitment in cancer treatment trials. In the last decades of the 20th Century, studies showed that elderly patients achieved the best quality-adjusted survival with radiotherapy alone, but recent trials have found that fit elderly patients benefit from concurrent RT-CHT, although with more short-term toxicity.

Palliative radiation therapy practice for advanced esophageal carcinoma in Africa.

While numerous surveys of pattern of practices of palliative radiotherapy (RT) in advanced esophageal cancers have been published in developed countries, there is no such survey in African countries. During and after a regional training course by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in palliative cancer care, a questionnaire was distributed to African RT centers to gather information about infrastructure and human resources available, and the pattern of practice of palliative RT for esophageal cancers. Twenty-four of the 35 centers (60%) completed the questionnaire.

Radiochemotherapy for lung cancer in developing countries.

Radiochemotherapy has become a standard approach in locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer and limited disease small cell lung cancer. Most of the data supporting this observation come from the developed world and only extremely rarely have good-quality clinical trials been carried out in developing countries. It is therefore of paramount importance to put the experience of the developed world into the context of the limited resources and other health care problems of developing countries.

Anatomical subsite and diagnostic implications of colorectal cancer in zaria (Guinea savannah)-1981-2005.

Objective: To study the clinicopathological characteristics of Colorectal Cancer (CRC) in the Guinea Savannah region; identify sub site; ascertain any change in the anatomical sub-site between 1981-2005; relate tumour stage/differentiation, to age young =40 years and = 41years old patients Highlight option for diagnosis in the sub region.

Setting: There were 262 patients consisting of 125 retrospective and 137 prospective cases seen in the premier tertiary health institution in Northern Nigeria.

Results: The Male:Female ratio = 1.