Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Exp Med. Jun 20, 2023; 13(3): 17-27
Published online Jun 20, 2023. doi: 10.5493/wjem.v13.i3.17
Proportion of thyroid cancer and other cancers in the democratic republic of Congo
John Bukasa-Kakamba, Ayrton I Bangolo, Pascal Bayauli, Branly Mbunga, Francis Iyese, Aliocha Nkodila, Ali Atoot, Gaurav Anand, Stacy H Lee, Maimona Chaudhary, Pamela Q Fernandes, Hari PSS Mannam, Adithya Polavarapu, Merajunissa Merajunnissa, Abdullah Azhar, Mohan N Alichetty, Gauravdeep Singh, Georgemar V Arana Jr, Imranjot Sekhon, Manbir Singh, José D Rodriguez-Castro, Adam Atoot, Simcha Weissman, Jean Rene M’buyamba
John Bukasa-Kakamba, Pascal Bayauli, Francis Iyese, Jean Rene M’buyamba, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders Department, University of Kinshasa, Kinshasa Kinshasa, Congo
Ayrton I Bangolo, Ali Atoot, Gaurav Anand, Stacy H Lee, Maimona Chaudhary, Pamela Q Fernandes, Hari PSS Mannam, Adithya Polavarapu, Merajunissa Merajunnissa, Abdullah Azhar, Mohan N Alichetty, Gauravdeep Singh, Georgemar V Arana Jr, Imranjot Sekhon, Manbir Singh, José D Rodriguez-Castro, Adam Atoot, Simcha Weissman, Department of Internal Medicine, Palisades Medical Center, North Bergen, NJ 07047, United States
Branly Mbunga, School of Public Health, University of Kinshasa, Kinshasa Kinshasa, Congo
Aliocha Nkodila, Family Medicine, Protestant University of Congo, Kinshasa Kinshasa, Congo
Adam Atoot, Department of Medicine, Hackensack University-Palisades Medical Center, North Bergen, NJ 07047, United States
Author contributions: Bukasa-Kakamba J and Bangolo AI searched the literature, wrote, and revised the manuscript; Mbunga B, Iyese F, Nkodila A, Atoot A, Anand G, Lee SH, Chaudhary M, Fernandes PQ, Mannam HPSS, Polavarapu A, Merajunnissa M, Azhar A, Alichetty MN, Singh G, Arana Jr GV, Sekhon I, Singh M, Rodriguez-Castro JD revised and edited the manuscript; Atoot A, Bayauli P, Weissman S and M’Buyamba JR revised and approved the final version and are the article’s guarantors; all authors certify that they contributed sufficiently to the intellectual content and data analysis. Each author has reviewed the final version of the manuscript and approves it for publication.
Institutional review board statement: This study protocol was reviewed and approved by the national health ethics committee of the DRC, number 197/CNES/BN/PMMF/2020.
Informed consent statement: The dataset used in this study was de-identified, thus the need for patients' informed consent was waived by the Congolese Health Ethics Committee.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There are no conflicts of interest to report.
Data sharing statement: All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article or uploaded as supplementary information.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ayrton I Bangolo, MBBS, MD, Doctor, Department of Internal Medicine, Palisades Medical Center, 7600 River Road, North Bergen, NJ 07047, United States. ayrtonbangolo@yahoo.com
Received: March 4, 2023
Peer-review started: March 4, 2023
First decision: May 12, 2023
Revised: May 15, 2023
Accepted: May 22, 2023
Article in press: May 22, 2023
Published online: June 20, 2023
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Cancer diagnosis is increasing around the world and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The proportion of thyroid cancer has increased over the past three decades. There are very few studies on cancer epidemiology, and in particular on thyroid cancer in the DRC.

AIM

To establish the most recent proportion of thyroid cancer in the DRC compared to other cancers.

METHODS

This is a retrospective and descriptive study of 6106 consecutive cancer cases listed in the pathological registers of 4 Laboratories in the city of Kinshasa. This study included all cancer cases recorded in the registers between 2005 and 2019.

RESULTS

From a sample of 6106 patients, including all cancer types, 68.3% cases were female and 31.7% were male. Breast and cervical cancer were the most common types of cancer in women and, prostate and skin cancer were the most common types in men. Thyroid cancer was sixth in proportion in women and eleventh in men compared to all cancers. Papillary carcinoma was the most common of thyroid cancers. Rare cancers such as anaplastic and medullary thyroid carcinomas had a proportion of 7% and 2%, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Newer diagnostic tools led to a surge in cancer diagnoses in the DRC. Thyroid cancer has more than doubled its proportion over the last several decades in the country.

Keywords: Thyroid cancer, Papillary carcinoma, Cancer, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Africa, Proportion

Core Tip: Cancer diagnosis has been increasing worldwide. This is also true in Africa, particularly in the second biggest African country. However, there are currently no data on cancer in the Democratic Republic of Country (DRC). This study offers the most updated cancer data in general and thyroid cancer in particular in the DRC. Using this current database, more research can be carried out in the country.