Orunmuyi Akintunde T, Lawal Ismaheel O, Omofuma Omonefe O, Taiwo Olalekan J, Sathekge Mike M
Department of Radiation Oncology, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
Department of Nuclear Medicine, Steve Biko Academic Hospital and University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
Ecancermedicalscience. 2020 Aug 28;14:1093. doi: 10.3332/ecancer.2020.1093. eCollection 2020.
Nuclear medicine needs better integration into the Nigerian health system. To understand the relevant public health initiatives that will be required, this study assessed the pattern of nuclear medicine imaging services at the first nuclear medicine centre in Nigeria from January 2010 to December 2018.
The data of consecutive nuclear medicine (NM) scans performed between 1st January 2010 and 31st December 2018 at the NM department in a tertiary hospital in Nigeria were extracted from patient records and analysed using SAS version 9.4 (SAS Institute, Cary, NC). The National Cancer Institute's Joinpoint software and QCIS (QGIS project) were used to estimate imaging trends and geographical spread of patients.
An average of 486 scans per year was performed during the study period. Patients travelled from 32 of Nigeria's 36 states, and the majority (65%) travelled more than 100 km to obtain NM scans. Bone scans accounted for 88.1% of the studies. The remainder were renal scintigraphy (7.3%), thyroid scans (2.5%), whole-body iodine scans (1.7%) and others (0.4%).
NM in Nigeria appears underutilised. Furthermore, the studies to characterise the access gaps and implementation needs will contribute to the design of practical strategies to strengthen NM services in Nigeria.
核医学需要更好地融入尼日利亚卫生系统。为了解所需的相关公共卫生举措，本研究评估了2010年1月至2018年12月期间尼日利亚首个核医学中心的核医学成像服务模式。
从尼日利亚一家三级医院核医学科的患者记录中提取2010年1月1日至2018年12月31日期间连续进行的核医学（NM）扫描数据，并使用SAS 9.4版（SAS Institute，卡里，北卡罗来纳州）进行分析。使用美国国家癌症研究所的Joinpoint软件和QCIS（QGIS项目）来估计成像趋势和患者的地理分布。
研究期间平均每年进行486次扫描。患者来自尼日利亚36个州中的32个州，大多数（65%）患者出行超过100公里去进行核医学扫描。骨扫描占研究的88.1%。其余为肾闪烁显像（7.3%）、甲状腺扫描（2.5%）、全身碘扫描（1.7%）及其他（0.4%）。
尼日利亚的核医学似乎未得到充分利用。此外，旨在确定获取差距和实施需求的研究将有助于设计加强尼日利亚核医学服务的切实可行策略。
