Surgery for Colorectal Cancer Improves Survival in Uganda: A Cohort Study | Chapter 1 | Current Practice in Medical Science Vol. 4

While colorectal cancer (CRC) rates are down in high-income industrialised nations, they are increasing in Uganda and other emerging low-income countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Many CRC patients in Uganda lack access to oncological treatment or curative surgery. We compared the survival rates of patients who got curative surgery and, if necessary, adjuvant chemotherapy to those who did not in order to examine the impact of surgery and oncology care on CRC in the resource-constrained setting of a low-income developing country. People who received a CRC diagnosis between January 1, 2008, and December 31, 2018, were included in the research. For these individuals, the medical data from Ugandan hospitals were connected with the Kampala Cancer Registry. If the patients had undergone adjuvant therapy in addition to curative surgery, the researchers wanted to know. Three-year survival was our outcome variable. The calculation and comparison of survival were done using the log-rank test. The research covered 247 patients in total. 70 patients (28.34 percent) did not get curative surgery whereas there were 177 (71.66%) people who did. The survival rate after curative surgery for rectal cancer was higher (p=0.003). In general, patients who underwent surgery for their colon cancer were more likely to survive (p=0.137). In comparison to no surgery and no adjuvant chemotherapy, curative surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy demonstrated higher survival (p=0.007). In a circumstance when resources are limited, curative surgery, if required, combined with adjuvant chemotherapy enhances survival. The results of our study support the expansion of CRC care through upgrading surgery and oncology facilities in resource-constrained locations as a result of the rising prevalence of CRC.

Author(s) Details:

Richard Wismayer,

Department of Surgery, Masaka Regional Referral Hospital, Masaka, Uganda and Department of Surgery, Faculty of Health Sciences, Habib Medical School, IUIU University, Kampala, Uganda and Department of Pathology, School of Biomedical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.

Julius Kiwanuka,

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.

Henry Wabinga,

Department of Pathology, School of Biomedical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.

Michael Odida,

Department of Pathology, School of Biomedical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda and  Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Gulu University, Gulu, Uganda.

Please see the link here: https://stm.bookpi.org/CPMS-V4/article/view/7356