Pakistan Oral Cancer Collaborative: analyzing barriers and obstacles to oral cancer diagnosis, treatment, and prevention in Pakistan

Mariam A Khokhar; Muhammad Omar Niaz; Adnan Aslam; Hassan Aqeel Khan; Asif Loya; Paul M Speight; Syed Ali Khurram

doi:10.1016/j.oooo.2021.04.058

Pakistan Oral Cancer Collaborative: analyzing barriers and obstacles to oral cancer diagnosis, treatment, and prevention in Pakistan

Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol. 2021 Sep;132(3):312-319. doi: 10.1016/j.oooo.2021.04.058. Epub 2021 May 13.

Authors

Mariam A Khokhar¹, Muhammad Omar Niaz², Adnan Aslam³, Hassan Aqeel Khan⁴, Asif Loya⁵, Paul M Speight⁶, Syed Ali Khurram⁷

Affiliations

¹ Research Fellow, Department of Health Sciences, University of York, York, UK.
² Assistant Professor, Department of Community and Preventive Dentistry, Foundation University College of Dentistry, Islamabad, Pakistan.
³ Professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Margalla College of Dentistry, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
⁴ Assistant Professor, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan; Assistant Professor, College of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Medical Director, Department of Pathology, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Lahore, Pakistan.
⁶ Emeritus Professor in Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, School of Clinical Dentistry, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
⁷ Senior Clinical Lecturer and Consultant Pathologist, School of Clinical Dentistry, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK. Electronic address: s.a.khurram@sheffield.ac.uk.

PMID: 34284963
DOI: 10.1016/j.oooo.2021.04.058

Abstract

Oral cancer is a global health problem with increasing case numbers worldwide and no significant improvement in prognosis over the last few decades. It is one of the most common cancers and a leading cause of death in Pakistan, although the number reported is significantly underreported owing to the lack of a national cancer repository, and the true magnitude of this challenge is not known. Bilateral discussions and workshops funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund brought together a number of like-minded researchers and clinicians from the United Kingdom and Pakistan to analyze the status quo and plan the future course. This article reviews some of these discussions as well as barriers to oral cancer diagnosis in Pakistan and makes recommendations to investigate the magnitude and develop measures that may help tackle this devastating disease.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Diagnosis, Oral
Humans
Mouth Neoplasms* / diagnosis
Mouth Neoplasms* / prevention & control
Pakistan
Research Personnel
United Kingdom