A Review on Breast Cancer Care in Africa

Abstract

Background: The global incidence of breast cancer (BC) is rising, especially in low- and middle-income countries. The purpose of this review is to summarize existing publications on BC care in Africa. Patients and Methods: A systematic search in MEDLINE and smaller databases was carried out to identify African studies on BC treatment, and an additional PubMed search was performed for relevant topics on BC care. Results: A total of 219 publications, mainly from North and West Africa, were found by systematic search. We also selected articles on BC epidemiology, risk factors, clinical presentation, and cancer control in Africa. Conclusions: Publications on BC treatment are mostly from hospital case series. Evidence on treatment from prospective randomized trials that address the specific characteristics of African patients is lacking. The epidemiologic data shows rising incidences in Africa. The prevalence of risk factors is changing by age group, geographic region, and over time. The clinical picture of BC differs from that of Western countries due to the high proportion of young patients (on account of the African population with a high proportion of young people) and late presentation. Global collaborative efforts are needed to address the rising need for improved BC care in Africa.

Arg Allele of P53 Gene Codon72 is a Risk Factor for Breast Cancer in Senegalese Women

“…The epidemiology of breast cancer in these countries is characterized by younger age at diagnosis (<55 years), triple negative tumors, advanced disease stages and poor prognosis [19]. These characteristics have been found in our patients where mean age at diagnosis was 47.59 years, tumors stages 3 and 4 and poor prognosis grade III were mostly …”

“…Cancer care requires too many resources that are a tough challenge for less developed countries. Therefore, cancer prevention efforts must be a priority particularly in Sub Saharan Africa [19].…”

Why Do Women with Breast Cancer Get Diagnosed and Treated Late in Sub-Saharan Africa Perspectives from Women and Patients in Bamako, Mali

“…A median tumor size of 4.96 cm has been reported in a hospital cohort in Ethiopia [4]. Mammography screening programs are lacking for most African countries [5,6], and there is an urgent need to develop affordable and adequate approaches for early detection and efficient treatment [7][8][9][10].…”

Association of transcription factor 7-like 2 gene polymorphisms with breast cancer risk in northwest Chinese women

“…Breast cancer (BC) accounts for the largest proportion of women cancer globally, and has a significant tendency to onset among younger people [1]. By estimated, BC accounted for 15% (268,600) of incidence and 7% (69,500) of mortality of women tumor in 2015 [2].…”