Toward Optimization of Cancer Care in Sub-Saharan Africa: Development of National Comprehensive Cancer Network Harmonized Guidelines for Sub-Saharan Africa.

PURPOSE: Standard treatment guidelines improve patient outcomes, including disease-specific survival, in cancer care. The African Cancer Coalition was formed in 2016 to harmonize cancer treatment guidelines for sub-Saharan Africa. METHODS: The African Cancer Coalition collaborated with the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) and the American Cancer Society to harmonize 46 cancer treatment guidelines for use in sub-Saharan Africa. Harmonization for each guideline was completed by a group of approximately 6-10 African cancer experts from a range of specialties and with representation across resource levels. Each working group was chaired by an African oncologist and included a member of the appropriate NCCN guidelines panel. Treatment recommendations from the parent guidelines were distinguished as options that are generally available and should be considered standard care in most of the region or as highly advanced options for which cost or other resources may limit widespread availability. Additional recommendations specific to sub-Saharan Africa were added. RESULTS: The NCCN Harmonized Guidelines for sub-Saharan Africa, available for download on the NCCN website and mobile application, provide flexible recommendations appropriate for the range of resources seen in African cancer programs, from private comprehensive cancer centers to resource-constrained public hospitals. IBM (Armonk, NY) has developed a digital interface-the Cancer Guidelines Navigator-that allows oncologists to access the treatment recommendations for the first five guidelines through an interactive web-based application. CONCLUSION: Harmonized guidelines that reflect the diversity of resource levels that characterize the current state of clinical care for cancer in Africa have the potential to fill a crucial gap in efforts to standardize and improve cancer care in Africa.

Clinicopathological Findings of Retinoblastoma: A 10-Year Experience from a Tertiary Hospital in Kampala, Uganda.

BACKGROUND: Retinoblastoma (RB) is one of the most common cancers occurring in young children in sub-Saharan Africa. The incidence rate reported in the literature is 9,000 new cases per year, which corresponds to 1 in 15,000 births. This study aimed at analyzing the clinicopathological findings in children with RB in Uganda. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to describe and analyze the clinicopathological findings in the patients with RB. DESIGN: This was a cross-sectional analytical study involving 234 eyeball surgical specimens from 214 patients with RB diagnosed between January 2006 and December 2015. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 27.8 months (SD = 21.413, range: 1-132 months). More than half of the cases, 50.9%, presented with leucokoria. Invasion of choroid, sclera, anterior chamber, and optic nerve was found in 26.5% (n = 58), 51.2% (n = 88), 26.2% (n = 45), and 29.2% (n = 49), respectively. Twenty-six percent (n = 56) of the cases with intraocular tumour were at stage I and all patients with metastasis 4.7% (n = 11) had stage IV. The correlation between postlaminar optic nerve invasion and massive choroidal invasion was statistically significant (P = 0.002). Also, there was a statistical significance difference between metastasis and postlaminar invasion (P = 0.004). CONCLUSION: The majority of children with RB in Uganda present clinically with leucokoria, and their parents or guardians seek medical intervention at a later stage. Moreover, there was a noticeably significant lag period for the patients to begin treatment after the diagnosis was done.

Practice of percutaneous needle autopsy; a descriptive study reporting experiences from Uganda.

BACKGROUND: Percutaneous needle autopsy can overcome a number of barriers that limit the use of complete autopsies. We performed blind-and ultrasound guided needle autopsies in HIV-infected adults in Uganda. In this study we describe in detail the methods we used, the ability of both procedures to obtain sufficient tissue for further examination and the learning curve of the operators over time. METHODS: If written informed consent was granted from the next of kin, we first performed a blind needle autopsy, puncturing brain, heart, lungs, liver, spleen and kidneys using predefined surface marking points. We then performed an ultrasound guided needle autopsy puncturing heart, liver, spleen and kidneys. The number of attempts, expected success and duration of the procedure were noted. A pathologist read the slides and indicated if the target tissue was present and of sufficient quality for pathological review. We report the predicted and true success rates, compare the yield of blind to ultrasound guided needle biopsies and evaluate the failure rate over time. RESULTS: Two operators performed 96 blind needle autopsies and 95 ultrasound guided needle autopsies. For blind needle biopsies true success rates varied from 56-99% and predicted success rates from 89-99%. For ultrasound guided needle biopsies true success rates varied from 72-100% and predicted success rates from 84-98%. Ultrasound guidance led to a significantly higher success rate in heart and left kidney. A learning curve was observed over time with decreasing failure rates with increasing experience and a shorter duration of the needle autopsy. CONCLUSION: Needle autopsy can successfully obtain tissue for further pathological review in the vast majority of cases, with a decrease in failure rate with increasing experience of the operator. The benefit of ultrasound guidance will depend on the population, the disease and organ of interest and the local circumstances. Our results justify further evaluation of needle autopsies as a method to establish a cause of death.