Category: pediatric

November 2024 Background/Objectives: Kaposi sarcoma (KS) is a common lymphatic endothelial cancer among children with and without HIV in central and eastern Africa. Despite its clinical heterogeneity, its various clinical phenotypes are often grouped together in staging and treatment algorithms. Patients with KS tumor-associated edema, referring to hard, non-pitting lesions...

August 2024 Approximately 80% of pediatric tumors occur in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), where diagnostic tools essential for treatment decisions are often unavailable or incomplete. Development of cost-effective molecular diagnostics will help bridge the cancer diagnostic gap and ultimately improve pediatric cancer outcomes in LMIC settings. We investigated the...

November 2023 BACKGROUND Kaposi sarcoma (KS) is among the most common childhood cancers in Eastern and Central Africa. Pediatric KS has a distinctive clinical presentation compared with adult KS, which includes a tendency for primary lymph node involvement, a considerable proportion of patients lacking cutaneous lesions, and a potential for...

June 2022 PURPOSE Burkitt lymphoma (BL) accounts for 90% of pediatric lymphomas in sub-Saharan Africa. Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) malaria is considered an etiological factor of BL. We describe the geographic distribution of pediatric BL in Malawi and association with malaria prevalence (PfPR). We also examine the influence of travel time...

August 2021- Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) that assess health-related quality of life (HRQoL) are increasingly important components of cancer care and research that are infrequently used in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We administered the Chichewa Pediatric Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information System Pediatric (PROMIS)-25 at diagnosis, active treatment, and follow-up among pediatric lymphoma...

February 2019 – Although Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is common in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and highly curable in high-income countries, there are few prospective nonpediatric BL studies from SSA and no regional standard of care. This study represents one of the best characterized prospective cohorts of nonpediatric BL in SSA.

July 2018- Although highly effective, high-intensity cytotoxic treatments for Burkitt lymphoma are available in resource-rich settings, these therapies are usually not feasible in SSA, and lower-intensity continuous infusion approaches are impractical. We review current treatment approaches in SSA and discuss options for risk stratification and individualize therapy.

June 2018- Efforts to translate and culturally validate patient-reported health-related quality of life measures are scarce in SSA are scarce. This study translates the PROMIS-25 to Chichewa and assesses its validity and reliability in our setting.

March 2018- We examined risk factors and reasons for treatment abandonment among Malawian children with lymphoma, the most common pediatric cancer in SSA. 

June 2017 Abstract Background.  Although Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is the most common childhood lymphoma in sub-Saharan Africa, Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and other non-Hodgkin lymphomas occur. Diagnosing non-jaw mass presentations is challenging with limited pathology resources. Procedure.  We retrospectively analyzed 114 pediatric lymphomas in Lilongwe, Malawi, from December 2011 to June...