ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Burden of cancer is increasing in developing countries, where healthcare infrastructures and resources are limited. Evaluating the pattern of care would provide evidence for planning and improvement of the situation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We studied the pattern of residential place and clinical information of cancer patients who were admitted to the Cancer Institute of Iran from January 1, to May 31, 2012. RESULTS: We studied 1,705 consecutive cancer patients admitted to the Cancer Institute in the study period. The most common cancers were breast (29.2%), colorectal (9.0%), stomach (8.3%), head & neck (8.0%) and esophageal (3.8%) cancers. Radiotherapy was the main treatment (52.1%) followed by chemotherapy (43.8%) and surgery (29.1%). We found that 60% of the patients presented in the loco-regional or advanced stages. About 35% of patients travelled from other provinces mainly from Mazandaran (13.4%), Lorestan (10.6%), Zanjan (7.8%) and Ghazvin (6.6%). On average, the cancer patients travelled about 455 kilometers to receive care in the cancer institute. We found more than 38% patients who were referred from other provinces had an early stage tumor. CONCLUSION: Establishment of comprehensive cancer centers in different geographical regions and implementation of a proper referral system for advanced cancer patients is needed to improve the patient outcomes and mitigate the burden of travel of patients for cancer care.
Subject(s)
Developing Countries , Hospitalization , Neoplasms/therapy , Referral and Consultation , Travel , Antineoplastic Agents/therapeutic use , Breast Neoplasms/pathology , Breast Neoplasms/therapy , Cancer Care Facilities , Cohort Studies , Colorectal Neoplasms/pathology , Colorectal Neoplasms/therapy , Cost of Illness , Esophageal Neoplasms/pathology , Esophageal Neoplasms/therapy , Female , Geography , Head and Neck Neoplasms/pathology , Head and Neck Neoplasms/therapy , Humans , Iran , Male , Middle Aged , Neoplasm Staging , Neoplasms/pathology , Radiotherapy , Stomach Neoplasms/pathology , Stomach Neoplasms/therapy , Surgical Procedures, OperativeABSTRACT
Breast reconstruction (BR) surgery is not common for the treatment of breast cancer in low- and middle-income countries, including Iran. We evaluated the quality of life (QoL) in Iranian breast cancer patients who underwent BR at the Cancer Institute of Iran. We compared patients who had BR with breast cancer patients who had a radical mastectomy as the control group, matched for age, and time since surgery. We interviewed the cases and controls and collected data about QoL using EORTC-Q30 and EORTC-Q23 questionnaires. We also obtained personal and clinical data for the patients and controls. We compared 61 BR and 45 radical mastectomy patients. The BR patients had a higher level of education (73.8%) than the mastectomy patients (27.3%). In addition, the BR patients had a higher employment rate (58%) than the mastectomy patients (4.4%). QoL was significantly better among BR patients compared to the control group (P<0.05). In the multivariable analyses, the BR patients had significantly lower scores of pain, fatigue, and diarrhoea than the controls. Breast cancer patients who underwent BR surgery had a higher quality of life scores in some domains compared to the radical mastectomy. Socioeconomic factors and awareness of the patients about BR was crucial for choosing BR among Iranian patients.
