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Wilms tumour in Sudan
Author(s) -
Abuidris Dafalla O.,
Elimam Mohammed E.,
Nugud Faisal M.,
Elgaili Elgaili M.,
Ahmed Mohamed E.,
Arora Ramandeep S.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
pediatric blood and cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.116
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1545-5017
pISSN - 1545-5009
DOI - 10.1002/pbc.21547
Subject(s) - medicine , blood cancer , nephrectomy , wilms' tumor , stage (stratigraphy) , abdominal mass , pediatrics , cancer , pediatric oncology , presentation (obstetrics) , surgery , kidney , paleontology , biology
Background Wilms tumour is one of the commonest childhood solid tumours which has an excellent outlook in the developed world with 5‐year overall survival exceeding 90%. There is little information from Sudan regarding Wilms tumour. Procedure Records of patients with Wilms tumour diagnosed and treated at Institute of Nuclear Medicine, Molecular Biology and Oncology (INMO) in the University of Gezira from May 1999 to June 2007 were reviewed. Results Thirty‐seven children presented at a mean age of 4.1 years (range 2 months–13 years). The male to female ratio was 0.9–1. Abdominal swelling or mass was the commonest symptom. There was 1 child with Stage I (2.7%), 7 with stage II (18.9%), 25 with Stage III (67.6%) and 4 with Stage IV (10.8%). Following diagnosis 27% of children did not receive further treatment (5.4% died prior to treatment, 5.4% were not able to finance treatment and for the rest 16.2% no cause was identified). More than half of the children did not have a nephrectomy and only 4 (11%) completed treatment. Conclusions The poor outlook is related to several factors. Delayed presentation, poor awareness of treatment options, lack of finances, no provision of food, lodging and transport, absence of paediatric trained staff are the obstacles to better outcomes. Empowering parents with information, giving chemotherapy prior to nephrectomy, training staff and establishing links with a tertiary cancer centre in the developed world are some of the options to improve survival. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2008;50:1135–1137. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.