Oesophageal cancer and Kaposi's sarcoma in Malawi: a comparative analysis. Mlombe Y, Dzamalala C, Chisi J, Othieno-Abinya N.

Citation:
"Oesophageal cancer and Kaposi's sarcoma in Malawi: a comparative analysis. Mlombe Y, Dzamalala C, Chisi J, Othieno-Abinya N." Malawi Med J. . 2009;21(2):66-8.

Abstract:

Given that oesophageal cancer (OC) is common in Malawi and its outcome is so
dismal, would it be pragmatic to promptly mitigate the effects of smoking,
alcohol and aflatoxins rather than seek a higher degree of local evidence for
their role in OC? We retrospectively analysed a total of 13,217 OC and Kaposi's
sarcoma (KS) cases as recorded in the Malawi National Cancer Registry from 1985
to February, 2006. We found no OC clustering to suggest a role for culturally
variable habits like smoking, alcohol, maize use and maize storage in the
country. It may be that drinking and eating hot foods physically damages the
oesophageal mucosa, this is in line with work recently reported from Asia. We
also found that OC numbers have risen in line with KS (and HIV) suggesting a link
between these conditions

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