Demographic, clinical and pathological characterisation of patients with colorectal and anal cancer followed between 2013 and 2016 at Maputo Central Hospital, Mozambique.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate colorectal cancer (CRC) data and anal cancer data from Maputo Central Hospital (MCH), the largest hospital and a reference for oncological diseases in Mozambique, with the aim of characterising the disease profile in view to define an appropriate control programme. METHODS: MCH records from the Pathology and Surgery Services and MCH Cancer Registry database were assessed to obtain retrospective clinical and pathologic data of patients with CRC or anal cancer admitted to and treated between 13 December 2013 and 23 March 2016. RESULTS: The female gender was more prevalent (54.8%), even when anal cancers were excluded. Median age was 54 years (20-99). Most patients (51.6%) lived in the city of Maputo. The most common presenting symptom was found to be rectal bleeding. Adenocarcinoma was the most frequent histological type, and the most prevalent anatomical site was the rectum. Most of the cases were diagnosed at MCH in advanced stages. Colostomy was the most frequent surgical procedure and performed in 38.7% of the patients. Most cases of anal cancer occurred in human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients. Most patients had a poor prognosis due to advanced stage at first diagnosis. CONCLUSION: We observed an increase in cases of CRC and anal cancer in Mozambique and mostly diagnosed at advanced stages, which anticipates a dismal prognosis. Our data supports the urgent need of a comprehensive public health programme dedicated to solving this growing concern.

Investimentos em Recursos Humanos e Expansão dos Serviços - Imperativos para a Excelência da Gastroenterologia em Moçambique / Investments in Human Resources and Expansion of Services - Imperatives for the Excellence of Gastroenterology in Mozambique

Ao longo dos últimos dez anos, muitos passos foram dados para a evolução e progressão da especialidade de Gastroenterologia no nosso país, quer em termos de formação de novos especialistas, bem como no aumento de novos procedimentos endoscópicos, que vieram beneficiar muito aos utentes que frequentam o Sistema Nacional de Saúde (SNS). Moçambique é um país vasto, com uma área de 801.590 km² e uma população estimada em 28.861.863 habitantes, sendo cerca de 15 milhões do sexo feminino e cerca de 13 milhões do sexo masculino, com maior concentração populacional nas províncias de Nampula e Zambézia.3 Aproximadamente, 55% está na faixa etária dos 15 aos 64 anos de idade, com o rácio de um médico para 11.904 habitantes,4 facto que mostra que o país ainda tem muita carência de especialistas em gastroenterologia, para responder à demanda que, a cada dia, vem crescendo...

Clinical and Pathologic Profiles of Esophageal Cancer in Mozambique: A Study of Consecutive Patients Admitted to Maputo Central Hospital.

PURPOSE: Eastern Africa was recently described as a high-incidence geographic area for esophageal cancer. Mozambique is included in this region. This study aimed to characterize this malignant disease at Maputo Central Hospital (MCH) to develop a global program for esophageal cancer management in Mozambique. METHODS: MCH records from between 2012 and 2016 were used to assess the clinical, pathologic, and outcome profiles of esophageal tumors. A descriptive analysis of data collected was performed. Overall survival was evaluated using Kaplan-Meier curves. RESULTS: In the study, 522 consecutive patient cases of esophageal cancer were recorded. The median patient age was 56.1 years (range, 27 to 97 years); 291 (55.7%) patients were women, and 230 (44.1%) were men. Regarding tumor site, 113 patients (21.6%) had a tumor in the lower third, 154 (29.5%) in the middle, and 50 (9.6%) in the upper third of the esophagus; in the remaining 196 (37.5%), tumor site was unknown. Squamous cell carcinoma comprised 94.4% of cases with documented histopathology (74.9% of the sample). Surgical treatment was possible in 32 patients (6.1%). Disease stage was documented only in these 32 surgical patients; 28.1%, 53.1%, and 18.8% had stage I, II, and III disease, respectively. The remaining patient cases seemed to involve clinically advanced tumors. The median follow-up time was of 1.6 months. The median survival time was of 3.5 months for all patients; for patients treated with curative intent, it was of 8.7 months. CONCLUSION: Esophageal carcinoma is a common malignant tumor at MCH and is diagnosed in the advanced stages resulting in poor prognosis. Therefore, implementation of an Esophageal Cancer Program in Mozambique is essential.

Determinants of gastric CDX2 expression: a study in Mozambique.

As CDX2 expression precedes the occurrence of gastric preneoplastic lesions in the intestinal differentiation pathway, study of these steps of gastric carcinogenesis may contribute toward understanding the early effects of gastric cancer determinants. Our aim was to quantify the association between Helicobacter pylori infection and other environmental factors and the gastric expression of CDX2. Dyspeptic patients undergoing an upper digestive endoscopy (Gastroenterology Department, Maputo Central Hospital) were consecutively invited to participate in this study and classified as having normal stomach/chronic nonatrophic gastritis (NS/CNAG), chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG), or intestinal metaplasia (IM). For all patients with CAG or IM and a subsample of NS/CNAG patients (sex-matched and age-matched, 1 : 2), H. pylori infection and CDX2 gene expression were assessed by histology and PCR and by immunohistochemistry, respectively. Age-adjusted, sex-adjusted, education-adjusted, and H. pylori infection-adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were computed. CDX2 expression was observed in 56 NS/CNAG (49.1%), 39 CAG (86.7%), and all IM patients (n=12). It was more frequent among the H. pylori-infected patients (OR=2.26, 95% CI: 1.00-5.15). Infection with high-virulence strains was associated with CDX2 expression in patients with CAG (cagA, OR=3.20, 95% CI: 1.35-7.52) and IM (vacA m1, OR=5.86, 95% CI: 1.08-31.62). Patients with a lower frequency of vegetable consumption had a higher risk of marked CDX2 expression (OR=3.64, 95% CI: 1.02-12.95). The virulence of the infecting strains and vegetable consumption were associated with CDX2 expression and may play a role in the progression to more advanced lesions.

Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection, chronic gastritis, and intestinal metaplasia in Mozambican dyspeptic patients.

We estimated the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection, chronic gastritis, atrophy, and intestinal metaplasia in dyspeptic patients from Maputo Central Hospital, Mozambique and evaluated the relationship between infection and histopathological features of chronic gastritis. Biopsies from 109 consecutive patients observed in 2005-2006 were collected from antrum, incisura angularis, and corpus for histopathological study according to the Modified Sydney system. H. pylori infection was assessed by histology and polymerase chain reaction. H. pylori prevalence was 94.5%. Chronic gastritis was the most frequent diagnosis (90.8%). Degenerative surface epithelial damage was associated with higher H. pylori density. Glandular atrophy (8.3%) and intestinal metaplasia (8.3%) were infrequent. Our results confirm previous observations in African countries with high prevalence of H. pylori infection and low rates of gastric cancer: high frequency of chronic H. pylori-associated gastritis with very low frequency of gastric atrophy and intestinal metaplasia.