PATTERN AND OUTCOMES OF CHILDHOOD MALIGNANCIES AT UNIVERSITY OF GONDAR HOSPITAL, ETHIOPIA

NONCONSECUTIVE CASE SERIES

Abstract

Background : Childhood malignancy is an increasingly significant problem in low income countries. Despite the burden of the disease, little is known about patterns and outcomes of childhood malignancies in Ethiopia..
Objective : To describe the pattern and outcome of childhood malignancies at a teaching hospital in Northwest Ethiopia Methods: A nonconsecutive case series of children aged ≤14 years admitted with the diagnosis of any malignant cancer to University of Methods: A nonconsecutive case series of children aged ≤14 years admitted with the diag-nosis of any malignant cancer to University of Gondar Hospital from September 2011 to September 2014. Univer-sity of Gondar Hospital is a tertiary care teaching and referral hospital in northwest Ethiopia.
Results: The total number of admissions to the Pediatrics ward during the study period was 4,400. Medical rec-ords of 142 cases were reviewed and 110 (2.5%) cases were selected for the study. 67.3 % of them were male. Pa-tient age ranged from 5 months to 14 years (median 6.5 years, IQR 3.2-12.0 years). The peak age at diagnosis was 10 -14 years. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia was the commonest type of malignancy, comprising 30% of cases. Fi-nal diagnosis was made by fine needle aspiration for forty-six cases (41.8%). Thirty-nine percent abandoned treat-ment and 11% died. Multi-organ failure secondary to severe sepsis was the immediate cause of death in 33% of deaths.
Conclusion and recommendation: Malignancies represent a significant proportion of admissions. Acute lympho-blastic leukemia is the commonest type of malignancy. Further research is required to determine best practices for the management of pediatric malignancies.