Malakzai Haider Ali, Haidary Ahmed Maseh, Gulzar Saleema, Haidari Mujtaba, Ibrahimkhil Abdul Sami, Saadaat Ramin, Hakimi Ahmadullah, Sadat Hofiani Sayed Murtaza, Rahmani Soma, Abdul-Ghafar Jamshid
Department of Pathology and Clinical Laboratory, French Medical Institute for Mothers and Children (FMIC), Kabul, Afghanistan.
School of Nursing and Midwifery, Aga Khan University (AKU), Karachi, Pakistan.
Cancer Manag Res. 2022 Aug 30;14:2569-2582. doi: 10.2147/CMAR.S377710. eCollection 2022.
Cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity, and therefore, tremendous research work is continuously being done around the world with consideration of etiopathogenesis as well as identification of therapeutic targets. Decades of continuous war in Afghanistan has left the medical infrastructure of the country in a miserable situation. There is a serious deficiency in research work in the fields of pathology and oncology at the moment with minimal data available to elaborate about the demographic characteristics of various malignant disorders in the country, which would be indispensable to pave the way for further research and development.
A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted to describe the prevalence, distribution, and important histopathological features of malignant tumors reported at tertiary level in Afghanistan.
Out of 2328 consecutive cases of solid malignant tumors included in our study, 93.8% were primary and 6.2% were metastatic. Breast was the most common site of origin for primary malignancy (29.5%) in females; however, in males, esophagus was the leading site for primary malignant tumors (16.3%). Invasive ductal carcinoma was the most common histologic type of malignancy in females (87.9%). However, in both genders, squamous cell carcinoma of esophagus and skin, osteosarcoma of bone and soft tissue, and glioblastoma of central nervous system were the most common histologic types of malignancies diagnosed. Small intestine was a frequently involved site affected by extranodal non-Hodgkin lymphomas. Overall, the majority of the cancers were diagnosed in stage-II.
Findings in our study were somewhat similar to data presented elsewhere in the world, with some significant differences that could be related to the local factors. Our study revealed that most of the malignant tumors were diagnosed in later stages of the disease, attributable to scarcity of specialized oncology institutions and public awareness.
癌症是导致死亡和发病的主要原因之一，因此，世界各地围绕病因发病机制以及治疗靶点的识别持续开展了大量研究工作。阿富汗数十年的持续战乱使其国家的医疗基础设施处于悲惨境地。目前病理学和肿瘤学领域的研究工作严重不足，关于该国各种恶性疾病人口统计学特征的可用数据极少，而这些数据对于为进一步的研究和发展铺平道路至关重要。
开展了一项描述性横断面研究，以描述阿富汗三级医疗机构报告的恶性肿瘤的患病率、分布情况及重要组织病理学特征。
在我们研究纳入的2328例连续性实体恶性肿瘤病例中，93.8%为原发性肿瘤，6.2%为转移性肿瘤。乳腺癌是女性原发性恶性肿瘤最常见的起源部位（29.5%）；然而，在男性中，食管癌是原发性恶性肿瘤的主要部位（16.3%）。浸润性导管癌是女性最常见的恶性组织学类型（87.9%）。然而，在男女两性中，食管和皮肤鳞状细胞癌、骨和软组织骨肉瘤以及中枢神经系统胶质母细胞瘤是诊断出的最常见恶性组织学类型。小肠是结外非霍奇金淋巴瘤常累及的部位。总体而言，大多数癌症在II期被诊断出来。
我们研究中的发现与世界其他地方公布的数据有些相似，但也存在一些可能与当地因素有关的显著差异。我们的研究表明，大多数恶性肿瘤在疾病后期被诊断出来，这归因于专业肿瘤机构的匮乏和公众意识淡薄。
