Search

Purpose: Low health literacy is a leading cause of treatment abandonment among patients receiving cancer care at Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) in Malawi., Methods: We developed cancer educational videos featuring Malawian providers and played them in the KCH oncology clinic. The videos addressed cancer-related topics, including disease biology, common myths, diagnostic procedures, treatment, side effects, and survivorship. After 6 months of implementation, we compared results from 50 pre- and postintervention surveys to assess change in cancer knowledge and care experience., Results: Both pre- and postintervention cancer knowledge were good: a median of nine questions were answered correctly of 11 in both assessments. Despite the intervention, most continued to incorrectly identify cancer as an infection (pre: n = 26, 52%; post: n = 25, 50%; P = 1.0), although improvements were observed in patients' knowledge of correct actions for fever at home (pre: n = 38, 76%; post: n = 43, 86%; P = .31). Care experiences were overall good. Postintervention results indicate that more patients felt always listened to by their providers (pre: n = 18, 36%; post: n = 29, 58%; P < .01). However, we also noted a higher rate of patient dissatisfaction of care as more patients felt that they could not understand chemotherapy counseling (pre: n = 11, 22%; post: n = 22, 44%; P < .01). Assessments of video satisfaction indicate that patients found the videos very helpful in terms of understanding their disease (n = 47, 96%) and side effects (n = 48, 98%) and felt empowered to speak up with their providers (n = 46, 96%)., Conclusion: Standardized education materials for patients that can be feasibly implemented throughout sub-Saharan Africa are urgently needed. Cancer educational videos are a low-cost way to educate and empower patients with cancer in resource-constrained settings although in-person discussions remain a crucial part of care.

Background: Cancer outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) remain suboptimal, in part due to poor patient retention. Many patients travel long distances to receive care, and transportation costs are often prohibitively expensive. These are well-known and established causes of delayed treatment and care abandonment in Malawi and across SSA., Methods: We sent visit reminder texts and offered upfront money to cover transportation costs through a mobile money transfer (MMT) platform to lymphoma patients enrolled in a prospective cohort in Malawi. The primary aim was to test the feasibility of upfront MMTs., Results: We sent 1034 visit reminder texts to 189 participating patients. Of these texts, 614 (59%) were successfully delivered, with 536 (52%) responses. 320/536 (60%) MMTs were sent to interested patients and 312/320 (98%) came to their appointment on time. Of 189 total patients, 120 (63%) were reached via text and 84 (44%) received MMTs a median of three times (IQR 2-5). Median age of reachable patients was 41 (IQR 30-50), 75 (63%) were male, 62 (52%) were HIV+ and 79 (66%) resided outside of Lilongwe., Conclusion: MMTs were a feasible way to cover upfront transportation costs for patients reachable via text, however many of our patients were unreachable. Future studies exploring barriers to care, particularly among unreachable patients, may help improve the efficacy of MMT initiatives and guide retention strategies throughout SSA., (© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.)

Aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is among the most common cancers in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where CHOP is standard treatment and outcomes are poor. To address this, we treated 17 newly diagnosed adult patients in Malawi with Burkitt (n = 8), plasmablastic (n = 8), and primary effusion lymphoma (n = 1) with a modified EPOCH regimen between 2016 and 2019. Twelve patients (71%) were male and the median age was 40 years (range 16-63). Eleven (65%) were HIV infected, median CD4 count was 218 cells/µL (range 9-460), and nine (82%) had suppressed HIV RNA < 400 copies/mL. Patients received a median of six cycles (range 2-8) and median follow-up was 14 months (range 2-34) among patients still alive. Grade 3/4 neutropenia was observed in 26% of cycles and in 65% of patients. Sixteen (94%) responded to EPOCH and 10 (59%) achieved a complete response. One-year overall survival (OS) was 62% (95% confidence interval [CI], 42%-91%). Five patients (29%) died from progressive NHL and three (18%) from treatment-related complications. These data suggest EPOCH with setting-appropriate modifications may be a practical, safe, and effective option for improving high-risk NHL outcomes in Malawi and comparable settings, which deserves further prospective evaluation., (© 2019 The Authors. Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Outcomes for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are poorly described. We report mature data from one of the first prospective SSA cohorts. Patients aged ≥18 years with DLBCL were enrolled in Malawi 2013-2017. Participants were treated with CHOP (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone) chemotherapy and concurrent antiretroviral therapy (ART) if positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV+). Eighty-six participants (mean age 47 years, standard deviation 13) were enrolled: 54 (63%) were male and 51 (59%) were HIV+, of whom 34 (67%) were on ART at DLBCL diagnosis. Median CD4 count was 0·113 cells × 10 9 /l (interquartile range [IQR] 0·062-0·227) and 25 (49%) had HIV viral load <400 copies/μl. Participants received median six cycles CHOP (IQR 4-6). No patients were lost to follow-up and the 2-year overall survival was 38% (95% confidence interval 28-49). In multivariable analyses, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (PS) ≥2 and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) >2× upper limit of normal (ULN) were associated with mortality. HIV status was not associated with mortality. A simplified prognostic model of LDH >2× ULN and PS ≥2 performed at least as well as the age-adjusted International Prognostic Index. DLBCL can be successfully treated in SSA and outcomes did not differ by HIV status. A simplified prognostic model prognosticates well and may be easier to use in resource-limited settings but requires validation., (© 2018 British Society for Haematology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Plasmablastic lymphoma (PBL) clinical descriptions are scarce from sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) where both HIV and EBV are highly endemic. We identified 12 patients with pathologically confirmed PBL from a prospective cohort in Lilongwe, Malawi. Median age was 46 (range 26-71), seven (58%) were male, and six (50%) were HIV-positive. Eight patients were treated with CHOP and four with a modified EPOCH regimen. One-year overall survival was 56% (95% CI 24-79%), without clear differences based on HIV status. PBL occurs in Malawi in HIV-positive and HIV-negative individuals and can be treated successfully with curative intent, even in a low-resource setting in SSA., Competing Interests: All patients provided written informed consent for participation in the Kamuzu Central Hospital Lymphoma Study, which was approved by the Malawi National Health Sciences Research Committee (1107) and University of North Carolina Biomedical Institutional Review Board (12–2255).Not applicableThe authors declare that they have no competing interests.Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Given scarce data from sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), we sought to describe CD4 count and HIV RNA trends over time among patients with HIV-positive lymphoproliferative disorders in Malawi. We prospectively enrolled HIV-positive individuals with pathologically confirmed lymphoproliferative disorders between 2013 and 2016. Chemotherapy was standardized with concurrent antiretroviral therapy (ART). We assessed CD4 count and HIV RNA at baseline and every 6 months for up to 2 years. Of 72 HIV-positive patients, 59 had non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), 5 classical Hodgkin lymphoma (CHL), and 8 multicentric Castleman disease (MCD). Median age was 43 years (range 23-64). Fifty-five patients (76%) were on ART at enrollment for a median 47 months (range 1-387), with median CD4 count of 138 cells/μl (range 2-2,235) and median HIV RNA of 2.2 log 10 copies/ml (range 0.3-7.3). MCD patients had longer median ART durations, higher median CD4 counts, and lower median HIV RNA at baseline than NHL or CHL patients. CD4 count and HIV RNA steadily improved during follow-up, with different patterns in different histological groups. Twelve-month overall survival (OS) was 55% [95% confidence interval (CI) 42%-66%]. There were trends toward baseline CD4 count <100 cells/μl and HIV RNA >2.0 log 10 copies/ml being associated with worse OS. However, CD4 count and HIV RNA improvements during follow-up were independent of possible effects on OS. Distribution of HIV-positive lymphoproliferative disorders may change with continued ART scale-up in SSA. Chemotherapy and concurrent ART can lead to good immunological and virological outcomes.