Prevalence Of Childhood Malignamcy In Sharkia Governorate From 2000-2004

Childhood cancer is getting an increasing national interest because of its social and economic effect on the nation and family s level because of its liability to cure with early diagnosis and proper management.however, no accurate data are available concerning this problem in sharkia(and in Egypt as whole).the present study was conducted in sharkia governorate in the years 2000-2004 to find out the determinants of childhood cancer in sharkia governorate.It was found that the total number of childhood cancer cases at the zagazig university hospital, oncology unit was 160 cases in the years 2000-2004.Leukaemias constituted 73.1% of childhood cancer cases treated in ZUH, oncology unit in 2000-2004 and lymphomas represent 11.9 % while wilm s tumour represents 10 % .Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia was the commenest type of leukaemias and constituted 67.5 % of leukaemic children.non hodjkin lymphoma was commoner than hodjkin disease in the studied cases , hence they form 9.4 % of all cancer cases while hodjkin disease form 2.5% of the all cancer cases.So, the rank of frequency of different childhood cancer types was acute lymphoblastic leukaemia , wilm s tumour , non hodjkin lymphoma.Regarding the mean age of recorded cases 2000-2004 ,the lowest mean age was that of neuroblastoma (3 years) while the highest mean age was that of chronic myloid leukaemia(12 years).the mean age of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia was 7.6(±3.4)years and the median age of ALL was 8 years.Most childhood cancers were found to be commoner in males than females.Regarding the relation between the age of the affected childen and the death, the highest rate of death was found to be with the older childen.Complete blood picture ,bone marow examination ,CT and surgical biopsies were the most frequently used methods of diagnosis.Chemotherapy was the most frequently used modality of treatment.Complications attributed to the treatment were mainly affecting the GIT and were presented as nausea and vomiting.another common complication of treatment was alopecia that affect the children psychologically.Educational achievement affection was noticed in the school children of the included cases in the study.Studying the risk factors for childhood cancer in our study revealed that irradition , chemicals and dugs wee the main risk factors.The exposure to iradiation was found to be a prominent risk factor as it affected 60 % of the included children in our study.Other risk factors which could be revealed included the late birth order of the child , the large number of the siblings ,maternal history of previous abortion and diseases.So , we recommend the following :-1. health education programs for the whole population about the preventable risk factors as irradiation exposure , chemicals (pesticides...) and other maternal risk factors.2. Training programs for physicians for early diagnosis of childhood cancer.3. More facilities and equipments for diagnosis and treatment of the disease.4. Establishment of a population based cancer registry to facilitate further researches.