UICC World Cancer Congress 2006

The aim of this study is to show the clinicopathological aspects of childhood cancers in Cameroon within the ongoing AIDS epidemic.

Methods:We tried the cases of cancers diagnosed in HIV positive children aged less than 15 years.

Results: Since the last 10 years, 8 histologically diagnosed cases of cancers have been reported in HIV positive children. There was 4 cases of Kaposi's sarcoma, 3 cases of Burkitt's lymphoma and one case of embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma of the eye. All these children were aged less than 11 years, the youngest aged 5 months . They were HIV-1 infected as well as their mothers, but their fathers refused blood test for serodiagnosis. For the Kaposi' s sarcoma cases, there was one disseminated case with lymph node involvement. The others were only disseminated with ear, skin, eyelid, and genitalia involvements. The histological aspect was the same as in the case of classical or endemic Kaposi's sarcoma. Concerning the Burkitt' s lymphoma, there was one maxillo-facial involvement and two disseminated cases. The rhabdomyosarcoma was diagnosed in 3 years old child with eye involvement whose mother was also HIV-positive. Two children of this series, one with Kaposi' s sarcoma and one other with Burkitt' s lymphoma lost their sight and other children were treated using different chemotherapy protocol.

CONCLUSION:

The pandemic of AIDS will probably have an influence on childhood malignancies in Cameroon, but the situation is still different from what is observed in East and South Africa.