Evaluation of genetics of cancer predisposition in patients and efficacy of various chemotherapeutic drugs in Bangladesh

Abstract

The number of cancer patients in Bangladesh is increasing at an alarming rate in the recent days, thus it has become a common disease in our country. In this study, to evaluate the genetics of cancer predisposition in patients and efficacy of various chemotherapeutic drugs in Bangladesh, a survey was done on 100 patients from August 2017 through November 2017 on random basis. The study was done in National Institute of Cancer Research and Hospital and Ahsania Mission Cancer Hospital based on a constructed questionnaire. Majority of the patients were female with a number of 65 and male were 35 in number. Cancer was seen more prevalent in the age group of 45-64 years. The top most cancer found in patients was breast cancer (34%). The other top four cancers were lung (14%), ovary (6%), gallbladder (6%) and cervix (5%). The most common forms of diagnosis were histopathology report, PET CT scan, Cytopathology report, X ray and MRI. The major treatment types were surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy used alone or in combinations. The purposes of the treatments were curative (62%), terminal (25%) and palliative (13%). The study also focused on various complications after the administration of chemotherapy like alopecia, loss of appetite, pain and nausea as the top most. In terms of frequency of anticancer drugs, the most used ones were Cisplatin (45%), Paclitaxel (41%), Cyclophosphamide (33%) and Doxorubicin (30%). In this study the majority of the patients displayed hereditary cancer which may be boosted through carcinogens, refrigerated raw meats, excess sugar intake, and obesity and food habits.