The current study significantly contributes to the knowledge of the genetic proneness to obesity in Pakistani females and could also be helpful for forthcoming meta-analysis studies.
ObjectivesIn Afghanistan, breast diseases are a common reason for women to visit hospitals. This is the first study in Afghanistan aimed to describe the age distribution and types of breast diseases among patients diagnosed by fine needle aspiration cytology.DesignDescriptive cross-sectional study.SettingFrench Medical Institute for Mothers and Children, Kabul, Afghanistan.ParticipantsThe study included 650 patients with breast lesions between 1 April 2015 and 1 April 2019.ResultsThe mean age of diagnosis was 35.38 (SD ±13.11) years, ranging from 15 to 75 years. The most common diagnosis was cancer (24% of all cases). The second most common diagnosed lesion was fibroadenoma, constituting 22.4%, and the third most common lesion was fibrocystic changes, with 15.4% of cases. Inflammatory conditions were diagnosed in 9.7% of cases, granulomatous inflammation in 9.1%, lesions only suspicious for malignancy in 5.5%, lipoma in 2.8% and miscellaneous benign lesions in 11.1%. Cancer was diagnosed at the youngest age of 20 years. Cancer was more common on the left side (62%), and only one case (0.9%) was bilateral.ConclusionOur study showed that cancer was the most commonly diagnosed lesion and was reported at younger ages too. This suggests that physicians should not ignore any breast lump in younger patients and that the possibility of cancer must be considered. Further country-wide studies are suggested to assess breast cancer and associated risk factors.
Introduction
BCR-ABL1, resulting from t(9;22), is the oncogenic driver of chronic myeloid leukemia and the therapeutic target of the disease. Molecular studies have been the gold standard modality for patient assessment since the advent of tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy. In spite of that, there are cytogenetic abnormalities that can render the disease unresponsive to conventional therapy, thus making cytogenetics an important component of patient management guidelines.
Case presentation
We present a case of a Tajik, Afghan patient with chronic myeloid leukemia with del(6)(q23.3q27), t(9;22)(q34;q11.2), monosomy 11, monosomy 12, and marker chromosome who, despite having typical clinical and hematological disease with initial response to therapy, progressed to blast crisis very early and thus required special interventions.
Conclusion
Cytogenetic monitoring is an important pillar in the management of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia that cannot be ignored. It should therefore be a part of patient management not only during diagnosis but also during management. We present an unusual cytogenetic abnormality in a patient with chronic myeloid leukemia that resulted in early disease progression.
Purpose
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.
Patients and Methods
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.
Results
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.
Conclusion
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.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.