Diagnostic delay in bronchopulmonary cancers at the USFR Befelatanana Pneumology, Antananarivo, Madagascar

Abstract

The time between clinical symptoms onset and the diagnosis of bronchial cancer should be as short as possible so that it can be managed early and effectively. In Madagascar, this diagnostic delay is unknown. Therefore this study aims to evaluated the diagnostic delay of bronchopulmonary cancers at the the USFR Befelatanana Pneumology, Antananarivo, Madagascar. We conducted a retrospective descriptive study of patients with bronchopulmonary cancers diagnosed at the USFR Befelatanana Pneumology over the period 1st January 2011 to 31st December 2015 (5 years). All patients hospitalized during the study period and receiving anatomopathologically-confirmed diagnosis of bronchopulmonary cancer were included in the study. During the study period we collected data from 43 medical records of patients with bronchopulmonary cancer confirmed histologically, reflecting a rate of 0.64% of hospitalized patients. Pre-hospital delay, hospital delay and total delay were 171.74 days, 13.97 days and 185.71 days respectively. The time between symptom onset and consultation with a doctor was less than three months in 30 cases (69.76%), between 3 and 6 months in 8 cases (18.60%). Pre-hospital delay was very long according to the international recommendation for delayed diagnosis of bronchopulmonary cancers. An effort should be made to improve the diagnostic delay.