Pilot Study on the Application of Telemedicine as a Tool for Population-Based Cancer Registry in Hlegu Township, Yangon Region, Myanmar

A quality-cancer registry plays an unique role in planning, evaluation of cancer control program, treatment, and palliative care. To date, there is a paucity of studies in Myanmar that have focused on the implementation of a population-based cancer registry. The concept of combing telemedicine to this implementation may be beneficial to those working at the grass-roots level for the overall improvement of the processes of community reporting, effective referral for cancer care, and the establishment of cancer registries. A pilot study was therefore carried out to formulate the strategic approach for establishing a population-based cancer registry in Hlegu Township in Northern Yangon District. First, the cancer data entry software was created and installed on mobile phones as an information technology tool to initialize telemedicine. Then, 15 Health Assistants (HA) in Hlegu Township were trained for data collection to get basic information on cancer-confimed patients using mobile phone applications followed by online-based reporting to the cancer database unit. A total of 126 patients with cancer were registered from June 2016 to May 2017. The estimated prevalence of disease is 4.6 per 10,000 people. The most common age group at cancer diagnosis was 46 to 65 years (73.58%). Among 91 registered female patients with cancer, the three most common cancers were breast (25.39%), cervix (12.69%) and uterine (11.9%). Eighty-five patients with cancer (67.46%) received their diagnosis in public hospitals. Overall, 59% of patients received combination treatment, 19% received surgery only, 16% were treated with traditional medicine, 3% were treated with radiotherapy only, and 3% were treated with chemotherapy only. This study is the first of its kind, combing the concept of telemedicine to the creation of a population-based cancer registry. A complete and true picture of the cancer burden in the studied population can be provided without using enormous resources. This strategic approach is most appropriate to collect information of every cancer case in resource limited setting like Myanmar.