ReviewEcancermedicalscience2020
Radiotherapy waiting time in Northern Nigeria: experience from a resource-limited setting.
Review in Ecancermedicalscience, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Prostate cancer in Nigeria: a scoping review and meta-analysis of current evidence on process indicators and interventions.European journal of surgical oncology : the journal of the European Society of Surgical Oncology and the British Association of Surgical Oncology · 2025Pooled it
- Barriers to Radiotherapy Access in Sub-Saharan Africa for Patients with Cancer: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Pooled it
- Access to Radiation Therapy and Related Clinical Outcomes in Patients With Cervical and Breast Cancer Across Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review.JCO global oncology · 2023Pooled it
- Autonomous radiotherapy planning via agentic orchestration using a multimodal TPS-integrated compound AI platform.Machine learning. Health · 2026Article
- Prediction of Residual Disease in Unresectable Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma After Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy.World journal of oncology · 2026Article
- A framework for a national cancer imaging repository in Nigeria.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Predictors of delay in the cervical cancer care cascade in Kampala, Uganda.BMC women's health · 2026Article
- Radiotherapy in Nigeria: a silent emergency in cancer care.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2025Article
- Spectrum of gynecologic malignancies in Northeastern Nigeria.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Article
- Outcomes of neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radical hysterectomy for locally advanced cervical cancer at Kigali University Teaching Hospital, Rwanda: a retrospective descriptive study.BMC women's health · 2024Article
- Radiotherapy services in low resource settings: The situation in Nigeria.SAGE open medicine · 2023Article
- Brachytherapy infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa and quest for cervical cancer elimination.Journal of contemporary brachytherapy · 2022Article
- Please mind the gap-about equity and access to care in oncology.ESMO open · 2021Article
- Assessment of Breast Cancer Management in Sub-Saharan Africa.JCO global oncology · 2021Article
- Prostate Cancer Management in Nigeria: A mini-review of up-to-date treatment options.Nigerian medical journal : journal of the Nigeria Medical AssociationArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAccess and availability of radiotherapy treatment is limited in most low- and middle-income countries, which leads to long waiting times and poor clinical outcomes. The aim of our study is to determine the magnitude of waiting times for radiotherapy in a resource-limited setting.
methodsThis is a retrospective cohort study of patients with the five most commonly treated cancers managed with radiotherapy between 2010 and 2014. Data includes diagnosis, patients' demographics and treatment provided. The waiting time was categorised into intervals (1) between diagnosis and first radiation consultation (2) First consultation to radiotherapy treatment (3) Decision-to-treat to treatment and (4) Diagnosis to treatment.
resultsA total of 258 cases were involved, including cervical (50%; 129/258), breast (27.5%; 71/258), nasopharynx (12.8%; 33/258), colorectal (5%; 13/258) and prostate cancers (4.7%; 12/258). Mean age was 48 (±12.9) years. Treatment with radical intent comprised 67% (178/258) of cases, while 33% (80/258) had palliative treatment. The median time from diagnosis to first radiation consultation was 40 (IQR 17-157.75) days for all the patients, with prostate cancer having the longest time - 305 days (IQR 41-393.8). The median time between the first radiation oncology consultations and first radiotherapy treatment was 130.5 (IQR 14-211.5) days; cervical cancer patients waited a median of 139 (IQR 13-195.5) days. The median time between diagnosis and first radiotherapy for breast cancer patients was 329 (IQR 207-464) days, compared to 213 (IQR 101.5-353.5) days for all the patients.
conclusionThe study shows that waiting time for radiotherapy in Nigeria was generally longer than what is recommended internationally. This reflects the need to improve access to radiotherapy in order to improve cancer treatment outcomes in resource-limited settings.
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