TRANSLATION AND DETERMINATION OF THE COMPREHENSIBILITY OF A LUGANDA VERSION OF ORAL MUCOSITIS DAILY QUESTIONNAIRE.

Objective: This study aimed to translate, determine the comprehensibility and examine the linguistic equivalence of a Luganda Oral Mucositis Daily Questionnaire (OMDQ MTS) among patients undergoing chemotherapy. Design: This was a validation study design in which bilingual patients who were receiving chemotherapy at Uganda cancer institute and had experienced some sort of oral discomfort after the start of their treatment were asked to complete OMDQ MTS Luganda followed by the English version on the same visit. The tools were administered at least two hours apart and had different item order. Results and Conclusions: Fifty participants accepted to take part by completing both versions of OMDQ MTS data. All item mean score differences between the two versions were less than ±0.25. The Cronbach's α for the Luganda and English versions were 0.78 and 0.86 based on standardized items while Guttman's lambada 2 and 3 were 0.89 and 0.79 respectively. A translated Luganda version of OMDQ MTS is reliable and easy to understand. Thus, it has the potential in being used to monitor mucositis among patients undergoing chemotherapy.

The 5-year prevalence of maxillofacial fibro-osseous lesions in Uganda.

BACKGROUND: Fibro-osseous lesions of the jaws are a diagnostic challenge for the pathologist because histologically, they are not easily distinguishable. African data on the prevalence of these lesions are scarce. We present a 5-year report of benign fibro-osseous lesions at Mulago Hospital, Uganda, showing the frequency and distribution of these lesions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Confirmed fibro-osseous lesions reports at the pathology department (2007-2012) were retrieved. Patients' clinical data including age, gender, anatomic location, and diagnosis were recorded. Descriptive statistics and simple proportion tests were carried out. RESULTS: We retrieved 155 confirmed benign fibro-osseous lesions over this period, 65% were females, 34% males, and the gender of one case was not specified. Fibrous dysplasia was the most prevalent lesion (n = 87, 56.1%) followed by ossifying fibroma (n = 50, 32.9%) and osseous dysplasia (n = 17, 10.9%). We neither found craniofacial nor polyostotic fibrous dysplasia. Fibrous dysplasia and ossifying fibroma peaked in the second decade at 40.2% and 40.0%, respectively. Florid osseous dysplasia was commonest in the fifth decade. CONCLUSION: In this study, all the florid osseous dysplasia were seen among females. We need to carry out prospective studies to establish as to why and what kind of women get afflicted by this lesion.

Seasonality of Burkitt's lymphoma in Uganda.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Burkitt's lymphoma is the most common childhood oral maxillofacial tumor in Africa and some studies have reported seasonal variation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All Burkitt's cases diagnosed from 1969 to 2006, from all over Uganda, at the Makerere University's Department of Pathology, were analyzed, to determine seasonal variation. This was done by evaluation of monthly and rainy versus dry season prevalence. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: The Wilcoxon test was used in both cases, to assess the statistical significance of differences in the diagnostic rates of Burkitt's lymphoma, in comparison to nonspecific chronic inflammation, using the total as the denominator. Yearly variation in prevalence was examined by a Chi-square test for linear trend. Mann-Whitney tests were done to compare the climatic regions. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to test for differences when gender, seasons and climatic regions were factored in. RESULTS: Although monthly frequencies varied considerably over the period, none of the differences were statistically significant (Pearson's 15.199, degrees of freedom df = 11, P = 0.174). Likewise, there was no statistically significant difference in the total number of Burkitt's and nonspecific chronic inflammation biopsies handled at the Department during the rainy and dry seasons. CONCLUSION: Although the 38-year period gave us sufficient numbers to use the Edward's method for seasonality, it also meant that a lot of seasonal changes that occurred during the period were not taken into consideration. We hence feel that a review of this data with weather experts, so as to group the biopsies into accurate rainfall and dry patterns, would yield a more authoritative publication.