Tumors Registry in Low Income Countries’ Hospital: A Retrospective Study of 350 Cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 2007 to 2017

Abstract

Tumors had been misdiagnosed and under- documented for longtime in Africa. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has not any cancer registry available up today. The National Cancer Registry is an important tool to deal with cancer management, especially for the National Cancer Plan and cancer prevention. The African Cancer Registry Network (AFCRN) is trying to help many Countries to hold their national Registries in hope to provide tumors’ data. Despite National Cancer Registry, hospital Registries can be used for preliminary researches. This is a retrospective study performed to determine epidemiological and clinical data of tumors in Lubumbashi City, the second city in DRC, especially in the mines’ hospital during the period from 2007 to 2017. The authors collected data from 350 patients aged from 2 and 94 years. The average age was 46.3 ± 17.9 years. There were 299 Females and 51 males; means 85.4 vs 14.6%. Tumors of the female reproductive system accounted for 72.9%. Diagnosis was made by echography in 59.7% of cases. Palliative care was the main treatment in 51% of cases. This study has enlightened the fact that tumors are a serious problem of health in the Democratic Republic of Congo and there are many challenges to improve cancer survival in this country.