e18211 Background: Healthcare providers often rely on clinical practice guidelines to help inform and optimize patient care. However, most of these guidelines are from reputable organizations that are based in developed countries. There is a paucity of data about the status of guidelines in low and middle-income countries (LMIC), specifically in terms of their availability, usage and quality. Objective: To determine utilization of oncology guideline and potential barriers to usage in a LMIC among clinical and radiation oncologist (RADONCS) Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with the use of an online questionnaire that was administered to practicing RADONCS in Nigeria via the Association’s email and social media database. In addition, paper questionnaires were administered in person at regional clinical meetings. Results: Survey response rate was 53.4% in a sample of 101 RADONCS from the database. Sixty-nine percent of respondents were consultants and 30% were residents. About 17% had greater than ten years’ experience managing cancer patients, while 43% had less than five years’ experience. All of the respondents are involved in the chemotherapy administration while only about half are involved in the screening and diagnosis of cancer patients. Ninety-three percent report using guidelines in managing patients and the top 3 guidelines used were National Comprehensive Cancer Network (90%), American Society of Clinical Oncology (50%) and European Society of Medical Oncology (46%). The major three barriers to guideline utilization were inadequate facilities for proper guideline implementation, the guideline is not applicable to setting and information in guideline is overwhelming. Potential facilitators include providing adequate facilities, developing local guidelines and increase awareness on the use of guidelines. Almost all respondents are in favour of using guidelines that are adapted to their practice setting. Conclusions: Our study shows that clinicians involved in the management of cancer patients in a LMIC are aware of cancer treatment guidelines. However, issues like inadequate facilities, inapplicability of guideline to local setting and complexity of information in guidelines hinder their usage.
Objective Technetium [Tc99m]-labeled prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT) is a suitable alternative to prostate-specific membrane antigen-positron emission tomography (PSMA-PET) imaging. However, the availability of SPECT/CT in many developing countries is limited. Materials and Methods To evaluate the utility of planar [Tc99m]Tc-PSMA in the absence of SPECT/CT, we compared planar [99mTc]Tc-PSMA and routine bone scan imaging in low-, intermediate-, and high-risk prostate cancer in five patients with histologically confirmed prostate cancer who had both scans within a period of less than 4 days. The mean age of patients was 66.8 ± 5.24, and the median prostate-specific antigen level was 175 ng/mL (range: 0–778 ng/mL). Results Planar [Tc99m]Tc-PSMA scan provided no additional benefit over bone scans in the low-risk prostate cancer cases. In the cases with intermediate-risk prostate cancers, planar [Tc99m]Tc-PSMA indicated complete and partial response to treatment in oligometastatic and widespread metastatic disease, respectively. In one patient with high-risk prostate cancer, planar [Tc99m]Tc-PSMA detected additional skeletal lesions that were not seen on bone scan. Conclusion In the absence of SPECT/CT, planar [Tc99m]Tc-PSMA was useful for confirming extent of disease in treated intermediate- and high-risk prostate cancer. It showed little value in low-risk prostate cancer, especially when bone scan is normal. It was particularly useful for treatment response assessment in oligometastatic disease, and its utility should be further explored.
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