The Cancer in Sub-Saharan Africa volume brings together population-based cancer incidence data from 25 cancer registries in 20 sub-Saharan African countries that are part of the African Cancer Registry Network. The compiled data in this volume, presented and commented upon by covered population and by anatomical site, are of tremendous value to the assessment of the pattern and evolution of cancer in Africa, as a means of elucidating, confirming, and evaluating causes of the disease.
This volume is devoted to the overall management of solid tumors in children. Recent advances in the use of monoclonal antibodies for diagnosis and possible treatment are presented. New approaches to the complete care of the child and family as well as specific developments in the treatment of defined conditions are discussed. A particular contribution deals with congential dysplasia of soft tissue. The material analyzed for this topic was taken from a unique collections of clinical cases supplemented by detailed laboratory studies.
This book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date review of all aspects of childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, from basic biology to supportive care. It offers new insights into the genetic pre-disposition to the condition and discusses how response to early therapy and its basic biology are utilized to develop new prognostic stratification systems and target therapy. Readers will learn about current treatment and outcomes, such as immunotherapy and targeted therapy approaches. Supportive care and management of the condition in resource poor countries are also discussed in detail. This is an indispensable guide for research and laboratory scientists, pediatric hematologists as well as specialist nurses involved in the care of childhood leukemia.
This atlas illustrates the latest available data on the cancer epidemic, showing causes, stages of development, and prevalence rates of different types of cancers by gender, income group, and region. It also examines the cost of the disease, both in terms of health care and commercial interests, and the steps being taken to curb the epidemic, from research and screening to cancer management programs and health education.
This text is the only book of its kind to provide specific guidance applicable to limited resource settings and builds up from the foundation of general practitioner or general pediatrician competence. Written and edited by leaders in the field, this manual educates physicians on the essential components of the discipline, filtered through the experience of specialists from developing countries, with immediate applicability in the specific healthcare environment in these countries. Typically, manuals of pediatric hematology-oncology are written by specialists from high-income countries, and usually target an audience with a sub-specialist level of training, often assisted by cutting-edge diagnostic and treatment facilities. However, approximately 80% of new cases of cancer in children appear in mid- and low-income countries. Almost invariably, general practitioners or general pediatricians without special training in oncology will look after children with malignancies who enter the health care system in these countries. The diagnostic facilities are usually limited, as are the treatment options. The survival figures in these conditions are somewhere below 20%, while in high-income countries they are in the range of 80% for many childhood cancers. This book includes simplified therapy protocols, pain therapy and palliation, as well as ward procedures such as bone marrow aspiration/biopsies, intravenous therapy and chemotherapy drugs mixing. It provides an overview of pediatric cancer epidemiology, cancer registration and organizing support networks and features the management of cancers with associated pathology like AIDS, malnutrition, malaria and tuberculosis.
Three of every four children and adolescents with cancer can now be cured. However, physicians are using increasingly intensive treatment regimens. These treatments can expose patients to toxic chemotherapeutic agents, invasive surgical procedures, and radiation oncology interventions that risk disfigurement, neuropsychiatric damage, and life-threatening organ toxicity. These potentially dire consequences have mandated that advances in cancer treatment go hand in hand with supportive care measures that sustain patients through their therapeutic ordeal and allow each patient to achieve maximum quality of life. In this book, now in its third edition, the discipline of supportive care in pediatric oncology is covered in depth. Supportive Care of Children with Cancer is a ready-reference handbook designed for use at the hospital bedside, in the oncology outpatient clinic, or in the physician's office. To create this book, leading experts in the field recommended approaches to supportive care which were then critically reviewed by members of the Children's Oncology Group, the world's largest cooperative study group for children's cancer. For students, house officers, fellows, pediatric oncologists, surgeons, nurses, nutritionists, social workers, and psychologists, this book provides essential information about the care of pediatric oncology patients. The third edition features a new chapter on recognition, prevention, and remediation of burnout in pediatric oncology staff members, while throughout the book, chapters have been revised and updated to reflect the impact of new antibiotic agents, new antiemetics, and new approaches to pain management.
Childen's palliative care has developed rapidly as a discipline, as health care professionals recognize that the principles of adult palliative care may not always be applicable to children at the end of life. The unique needs of dying children are particularly evident across Africa, where the scale of the problem is overwhelming, and the figures so enormous that they are barely comprehensible: over 400,000 children in Africa died from AIDS in 2003, and out of the 166,000 children a year diagnosed with cancer, 85% of these are in the developing world. Despite the enormous need, provision of children's palliative care in Africa is almost non-existent, with very few health workers trained and confident to provide care for dying children. The challenges of providing palliative care in this setting are different to those in more developed countries, contending with the shortage of physical and human resources in addition to the vast scope of the care needed. Written by a group with wide experience of caring for dying children in Africa, this book provides practical, realistic guidance by improving access to, and delivery of, palliative care in this demanding setting. It looks at the themes common to palliative care--including communication, assessment, symptom management, psychosocial issues, ethical dilemmas, end of life care, and tips for the professional on compassion and conservation of energy--but always retains the focus on the particular needs of the health care professional in Africa. While containing some theory, the emphasis is on practical action throughout the book. Children's Palliative Care in Africa provides health care professionals working in Africa, and other resource-poor settings, with the confidence, knowledge, and capacity to improve care for the terminally ill child in constrained and demanding environments.
Since the late 1960s, the survival rate in children and adolescents diagnosed with cancer has steadily improved, with a corresponding decline in the cancer-specific death rate. Although the improvements in survival are encouraging, they have come at the cost of acute, chronic, and late adverse effects precipitated by the toxicities associated with the individual or combined use of different types of treatment (e.g., surgery, radiation, chemotherapy). In some cases, the impairments resulting from cancer and its treatment are severe enough to qualify a child for U.S. Social Security Administration disability benefits. At the request of Social Security Administration, Childhood Cancer and Functional Impacts Across the Care Continuum provides current information and findings and conclusions regarding the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of selected childhood cancers, including different types of malignant solid tumors, and the effect of those cancers on childrenâ (TM)s health and functional capacity, including the relative levels of functional limitation typically associated with the cancers and their treatment. This report also provides a summary of selected treatments currently being studied in clinical trials and identifies any limitations on the availability of these treatments, such as whether treatments are available only in certain geographic areas.
