Lymphoma Prevalence Patterns in Uganda, 1969-2006

• Published in: Middle East journal of cancer 2013-07, Vol.4 (3), p.119-124
• Main Authors: Adriane Kamulegeya, Louis Muwazi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Lymphomas; Malignancies; Uganda
• ISSN: 2008-6709; 2008-6687

Background: Lymphomas are a complex group of malignancies that requireadvanced technology for proper classification. Unfortunately Uganda, as with numerousother Sub-Saharan African countries, lacks these resources. As a result, lymphomadiagnoses do not follow WHO guidelines.Methods: Histopathology records at Makerere University College of HealthSciences, Department of Pathology and the population estimates available through thePopulation Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs(2011) were used to calculate the prevalence of lymphomas in Uganda.Results: The most common pediatric (age: less than 15 years) lymphoma wasBurkitt’s lymphoma, followed by lymphoblastic lymphoma. For adolescents andyoung adults (age: 15 to 24 years), Hodgkin’s lymphoma was the leading subtype,followed by lymphoblastic lymphoma. For adults, small lymphocytic lymphoma wasthe most common subtype, followed by Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In this study there wasa dip in the prevalence of lymphomas during the period 1979 to 1988, followed by asteady increase. This coincided with the time when Uganda lost many of its expertsbecause of political turmoil and therefore might be due to a lack of clinicians andhistopathologists that lead to this decline. Conclusion: This study highlights the deficiencies in diagnosis of lymphomas,making it difficult to compare with other centers. There is a need to invest in immuno-histochemistry techniques to aid better classification of lymphomas in Uganda.