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Identifying barriers to treatment of childhood rhabdomyosarcoma in resource‐limited settings: A literature review
Author(s) -
Papyan Ruzanna,
Tamamyan Gevorg,
Danielyan Samvel,
Tananyan Armen,
Muradyan Armen,
Saab Raya
Publication year - 2019
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.27708
Subject(s) - medicine , low and middle income countries , rhabdomyosarcoma , abandonment (legal) , multidisciplinary approach , modalities , disease , health care , intensive care medicine , developing country , environmental health , family medicine , pediatrics , economic growth , pathology , sarcoma , social science , sociology , political science , law , economics
We performed a literature review to examine barriers for rhabdomyosarcoma treatment in low‐resource settings, and identified 29 articles from 14 middle‐income countries, with none from low‐income countries. Notable findings included inconsistent use of local control modalities, lack of diagnostics in some settings, and high rate of abandonment specifically in low middle‐income countries. Reported limitations included lack of surgical expertise and/or radiation therapy, advanced stage of disease, and absence of health insurance. Although very poor outcomes were prevalent in several settings, good outcomes were achievable in others when multidisciplinary therapy and financial coverage of medical care were made available.