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©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
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
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
Cancer diagnosis has been increasing worldwide and in Africa as well, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). However, there are currently no studies addressing the proportion of different cancers in the DRC, and in particular thyroid cancer.
Research motivation
The main motivation of this study was to identify the proportions of different cancers in the DRC and in particular thyroid cancer.
Research objectives
The purpose of this study was to analyze different epidemiologic characteristics of thyroid cancers in the second-largest African country while establishing the proportions of all cancers in the country.
Research 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.
Research results
In our series two third of cancer patients were females. Breast is the most common cancer in females while prostate cancer is the most common among their male counterparts. Thyroid cancer was ranked sixth in occurrence and a higher proportion of anaplastic thyroid cancer was encountered.
Research conclusions
Female patients seem to be more affected by cancer than their male counterparts. Rare anaplastic thyroid cancers which are often associated with a dismal prognosis, although rare in the literature, are found in higher proportion in the DRC. A surge of all cancers was also observed owing to the advances in diagnostic tools used.
Research perspectives
Oncology and cancer research in the DRC remains an unexplored area. There is a serious paucity of data of any cancer in the country. This study offers the most updated data on cancer in the second-largest African country. This study paves the way for future prospective studies in the country, helping to identify groups at higher risk and shaping the national guidelines.
