Status of Government-Funded Radiotherapy Services in Nigeria.

PURPOSE: Access to radiotherapy (RT) is now one of the stark examples of global cancer inequities. More than 800,000 new cancer cases require potentially curative or palliative RT services in Africa, arguably <15% of these patients currently have access to this important service. For a population of more than 206 million, Nigeria requires a minimum of 280 RT machines for the increasing number of cancer cases. Painfully, the country has only eight Government-funded RT machines. This study aimed to evaluate the status of the eight Government-funded RT services in Nigeria and their ability to deliver effective RT to their patients. METHODS: A survey addressing 10 critical areas was used to assess the eight Government-funded RT services in Nigeria. RESULTS: Unfortunately, six of the eight centers (75%) surveyed have not treated patients with RT because they do not have functioning teletherapy machines in 2021. Only two RT centers have the capability of treating patients using advanced RT techniques. There is no positron emission tomography-computed tomography scan in any of the Government-funded RT centers. The workforce capacity and infrastructure across the eight centers are limited. All of the centers lack residency training programs for medical physicists and radiation therapy technologists resulting in very few well-trained staff. CONCLUSION: As the Nigerian Government plans for the new National Cancer Control Plan, there is an urgent need to scale up access to RT by upgrading the RT equipment, workforce, and infrastructure to meet the current needs of Nigerian patients with cancer. Although the shortfall is apparent from a variety of RT-capacity databases, this detailed analysis provides essential information for an implementation plan involving solutions from within Nigeria and with global partners.

Pattern of prostate cancer among a Nigerian population: A study in a single tertiary care centre.

Background: Prostate cancer has become a global health challenge because of its rising morbidity and mortality in males. It is the second cause of cancer death following lung cancer in men. It is rare under the age of 40 and its incidence has been shown to increase exponentially with age. Previously, Prostate cancer was thought to be a disease rare in blacks owing to the fact that not so much was known of the disease. Aims and Objectives: The objective of the study was to review the prevalence, pattern of presentation and clinic-pathologic findings of prostate cancer in the Department of Radiotherapy, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), between January 2001 to December 2010 in comparison to previous and recent studies globally. Methodology: Data collection for all patients histologically diagnosed with Prostate cancer at the Department of Radiotherapy, LUTH, from 1st of January 2001 to 31st of December 2010 was done. Results: A total of 144 cases with histologically confirmed Prostate cancer seen during the ten year study were analysed. The highest frequency was seen in the year 2010 with 34 cases. The age range was 41 to 81years with a mean of 66.19 ±7.30years.Adenocarcinoma was the commonest histological type with 98.6%.9(6.3%) patients had a positive family history of prostate cancer out of which 3(33.3%) had their brother affected the malignancy. 51(35.4%) patients presented with stage IV disease.18(12.5%) patients had a Gleason's score of 6,10(6.9%) patients had a Gleason's score of 7 and 2(1.4%) patients had a Gleason's score of 10. The most common presenting complaints were bone pains seen in 51(35.4%) patients, frequent night urine and difficulty with micturition seen in 50(34.7%) and 42(29.2%) patients respectively. Conclusion: This study showed that prostate cancer is not as rare as it used to be. Reasons attributed to its rarity then were lack of awareness, poor screening facilities and poor diagnosing technique.