Context: Cancer ranks second among the major causes of death globally. A projection by 2020 indicated that developing countries would account for about 70% of total cancer-related death worldwide. Despite the great threat posed by cancer to this region of the world, reliable statistics on the trends and patterns of cancer are rare. Aims: The aim of the study is to review the cases of cancer recorded in Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH), Bauchi, from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2019 Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective, descriptive study. Nine years records of all pathologically diagnosed cancer cases in the ATBUTH, Bauchi were retrieved, reviewed, and grouped in accordance with the International Classification of Diseases for Oncology. The results were presented as simple frequency tables and charts. Results: A total of 1284 cancer cases were diagnosed during the period, an average of 142.7 cases per annum. There was a female predominance of cancer cases (male: female ratio - 1:1.53. The age range was from seven months to 95 years, with mean and median ages of 49.6 and 50 years, respectively. More than half of the cases were reported in the fifth to seventh decades of life. Prostate (14.6%) and non melanoma skin cancer (11.2%) were the most common cancers seen in males. In females, cancers of the cervix (37.9%) and the breast (22.9%) were the most common. Conclusions: Breast cancer and cancer of the uterine cervix were the most common cancers in women in this review while prostate cancer was the most common cancer in men. The need to establish a hospital-based and/or population-based cancer registry that will generate reliable cancer data in our environment cannot be overemphasized.

Background Antenatal care (ANC) attendance is a strong predictor of maternal outcomes. In Nigeria, government health planners at state level and below have limited access to population-based estimates of ANC coverage and factors associated with its use. A mixed methods study examined factors associated with the use of government ANC services in two states of Nigeria, and shared the findings with stakeholders. Methods A quantitative household survey in Bauchi and Cross River states of Nigeria collected data from women aged 15-49 years on ANC use during their last completed pregnancy and potentially associated factors including socio-economic conditions, exposure to domestic violence and local availability of services. Bivariate and multivariate analysis examined associations with having at least four government ANC visits. We collected qualitative data from 180 focus groups of women who discussed the survey findings and recommended solutions. We shared the findings with state, Local Government Authority, and community stakeholders to support evidence-based planning. Results 40% of 7870 women in Bauchi and 46% of 7759 in Cross River had at least four government ANC visits. Women's education, urban residence, information from heath workers, help from family members, and household owning motorized transport were associated with ANC use in both states. Additional factors for women in Cross River included age above 18 years, being married or cohabiting, being less poor (having enough food during the last week), not experiencing intimate partner violence during the last year, and education of the household head. Factors for women in Bauchi were presence of government ANC services within their community and more than two previous pregnancies. Focus groups cited costly, poor quality, and inaccessible government services, and uncooperative partners as reasons for not attending ANC. Government and other stakeholders planned evidence-based interventions to increase ANC uptake. Conclusion Use of ANC services remains low in both states. The factors related to use of ANC services are consistent with those reported previously. Efforts to increase uptake of ANC should focus particularly on poor and uneducated women. Local solutions generated by discussion of the evidence with stakeholders could be more effective and sustainable than externally driven interventions.

Advances in fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) techniques allows for a whole range of procedures on these limited sources of tissue. Where fresh aspirates are not readily available, archival FNAC samples had also been used for clinical diagnoses, molecular profiling, and disease monitoring with impressive results. Nonetheless, legitimate concerns exist regarding the reliability of these banked specimens. Increased demands on human tissues in response to the rapid acceleration on emerging scientific platforms will probably make tissue bank creation derived from archival FNAC a priority. To highlight its future prospects as a resource for tissue banking, this paper provides an overview of the use of archival FNAC in clinical situations and ancillary studies. It is concluded that tissue banks of archival FNAC specimens might have great promise in optimizing patient care and translational research.

Background: Research and publications are critical to advancements in the quality of healthcare delivery. This article attempts to highlight the prospects and challenges of fine needle aspiration (FNA) cytology as a tool for research in Nigeria. Materials and Methods: Data available in local and international bibliographic databases for the period 1986–2005 (20 years) were collated and analyzed. Results: The theme of Nigerian FNA-focused studies correlated with the recognized disease patterns in the country which are tuberculous lymphadenitis, breast tumors and Burkitt's lymphoma. The accuracy of FNA in these situations was high and comparable to the experience in developed countries. It was found that the total number of articles published during two contiguous periods (1986–1995 and 1996–2005) had increased from 5 to 18. Also, in majority of cases, the articles were not published in specialized pathology journals. Conclusions: The utilization of FNA is apparently lagging in Nigeria. Given its potential in resource-constrained settings, we are of the opinion that it should be used more often in clinical and translational research.

The main challenge in healthcare delivery for most developing countries has been how best to take medical services to the remotest locations, because the greatest population lives in rural areas, where socioeconomic conditions and the means of communication are quite rudimentary (International Network for Cancer Training and Research, 2005). Particularly, there is a general paucity of pathology services in the developing countries and so often the correct diagnosis, which is key to survival, is hard to come by. Even in those centers where pathology laboratories exist, these are often the least developed clinical specialty. Hospitals and clinics located in these regions are generally limited in the care they could provide by the lack of pathologists and many of these institutions do not have well equipped laboratories with adequate number of staffs. Additionally, in view of the considerable distances between some rural and referral centers in the developing countries, consultation with an expert pathologist is a rarity, time consuming and expensive. A wide range of factors have influenced the deployment and growth of pathology resources throughout the developing world. In sub-Saharan Africa, the shortage of medical staff in pathology laboratories is particularly severe. Except in a few cities, majority of specimens are not even sent for pathological examination. Delays and low quality of service makes the pathology tests of limited value to clinicians. General laboratory quality standards including quality control and quality assurance are non-existent or suboptimal (Malami & Iliyasu, 2008a) and the skill of the technicians is highly variable. Other pervasive problems for pathology laboratories in sub-Saharan Africa are related to limited opportunities for basic training in pathology and the lack of books, CDs and other educational materials for continuing improvement. The result is a lack of operational competency with little back-up (Ahmad, 2005; Ahmad, et al 2009). It is therefore apparent that, perhaps more than anywhere else, it is in these resource-constrained nations of Africa that the greatest unmet need for pathological services exists. It is crucial that innovative interventions address these needs to improve the quality of laboratory services. In the context of these considerations, therefore, it is quite fortuitous that the world has witnessed phenomenal advances in technology that incorporate new methods in communications and information technology into medical practice. This has virtually revolutionized the practice of pathology and helped to facilitate professional linkages and dissemination of cutting-age knowledge. These improvements in technology have largely solved the technical requirements for telepathology (Wells & Sowter, 2000). Consequently, there is a considerable literature on the

BACKGROUND:Studies on bone neoplasms are generally scanty globally and more so in children. Primary bone tumours and tumour-like lesions in children have not been reported from Zaria.OBJECTIVE:To determine the relative frequencies, sex and age distributions, and anatomical sites of occurrence of primary bone tumours and tumour-like lesions in children in Zaria.MATERIALS AND METHODS:A retrospective review of histopathology reports of 40 children with bone tumours and tumour-like lesions in 11 years of age.RESULTS:Benign tumours accounted for 12 (30%) of the 40 tumours reviewed (osteoma 2.5%, osterochondroma 22.5%, fibroma 5%); while malignant tumours occurred in 19 (47.5%) (osteosarcoma 5%, Burkitt's lymphoma 37.5%, diffuse lympholastic lymphoma 5%). Tumour-like lesions accounted for 9 (22.5%), all fibrous dysplasia. Out of 40 tumours, 23 (57.5%) occurred in males and 17 (422.5%) in females. The majority of tumours, 45% occurred in the age group of 10-15 years, followed by 15 (37.5) occurring in the 5-9 years age range. The most common malignany was Burkitt's lymphoma 15 (37.5%). Maxilla was the most common site for malignant (30%) and benign tumours (12.5%).CONCLUSION:This study has shown that, primary bone tumours are relatively uncommon in children in our setting.

BACKGROUND:Internal audit has been rarely done for quality assurance of histology laboratories in Nigeria. We reviewed the steps involved in the production of reports with a view to assessing the performance of the histopathology laboratory of Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Nigeria.METHODS:A randomly selected 2 per cent sample of the total histology workload of the center for the year ending December 2005 amounting to 2877 cases was systematically reviewed.RESULTS:Analysis of the accumulated data showed a concordance rate of 94.8% between the original and review histological diagnoses, comparable to other published studies. Significant defects were observed to be due to missing demographic information on request forms (22.8%), poor technical quality of slide sections (18.4%) and typographical errors by typists (12.3%) In a minority of cases microscopic description was inadequate or inappropriate (7.0%) and some were inaccurate (2.7%). The turnaround time ranged from 2 to 16 days (mean 6.2 days) with results of 75.8 per cent of the specimens completed within 7 days.CONCLUSION:From the study we have shown that local audit is feasible in Nigerian laboratories and is an excellent method for detecting errors and improving performance in Surgical Pathology to optimize the scarce resources available to patient care in our country.

OBJECTIVE:Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is a simple, safe and cheap method for the screening and diagnosis of a variety of inflammatory and neoplastic conditions. Being a relatively new diagnostic technique in Nigeria, scant information had been published on it. We conducted a nationwide study to describe the availability, organization and utilization of FNA in the country.STUDY DESIGN:A descriptive cross-sectional survey was done to describe the current state of the develop ment of FNAC in Nigeria. The respondents were pathologists and heads of pathology departments in leading medical institutions.RESULTS:It was found that the practice of cytology is widely disseminated throughout the country, with a growing number of pathologists who have taken an interest in cytology. But FNA in Nigeria faces many important challenges, not the least of which is the lack of opportunities for local training and continuing education in cytology.CONCLUSION:In our opinion, there is an immediate need for a comprehensive approach to cytopathology education in Nigeria.

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is the commonest disease of the urinary tract afflicting the ageing male and is the commonest neoplastic disease in men aged 50 years and above.

Lymph node fine needle aspirations in 93 patients were studied to ascertain the usefulness of FNA cytology in determining the therapeutic approach. Cytologic results were compared with histologic diagnoses in 35 cases that underwent both aspiration and excisional biopsy. The cases with histological diagnoses included 17 (28.3%) of the 60 cytologically benign cases, 6 (75.0%) of the 8 cytologically suspicious cases, 10 (55.5%) of the 18 cytologically malignant cases and 2 (28.6%) of the 7 cytologically unsatisfactory cases. FNA in the present series showed a sensitivity of 90.0 per cent and specificity of 82.3 percent. It is concluded from this data that FNA can be an accurate, inexpensive and quick method of initial diagnosis in superficial lymphadenopathy.