Page 211 - SAHCS HIVMed Journal Vol 20 No 1 2019

Page 5 of 6 Original Research

There was no difference in in-hospital mortality between Thus, in addition to AIDS-defining illnesses, clinicians must
HIV-positive and HIV-negative surgical inpatients. This have a high index of suspicion for squamous cell carcinoma
contrasts with a study in Malawi, which, in a small cohort, and oesophageal, anal, penile cancers in HIV-positive
found a higher mortality rate in HIV-positive patients. 17 patients. In countries experiencing a high prevalence of HIV,
surgical training programmes and surgical units in hospitals
In several studies from SSA, most of them in the pre-ART era, must anticipate the types of surgeries that HIV-positive
a significant difference in surgical outcomes and complications patients are likely to require, such as excision of malignancies,
20
was not found. However, there seems to be evidence for a and provide adequate training, staffing and facilities to meet
higher mortality rate in HIV-positive patients undergoing the needs for the future.
emergency surgery. 21
Acknowledgements
HIV and malignancies Competing interests

In addition to the known AIDS-defining malignancies, HIV- The authors declare that there were no conflicts of interest
infected patients are also more likely to suffer from certain during the writing of this article.
5
cancers. In our study, there was a strong correlation between
HIV and certain malignancies. In the adult age group 15–49
years, 46.3% of the patients with proven malignancies were Authors’ contributions
HIV-positive. Unsurprisingly, HIV prevalence was highest P.M. performed data collection, data analysis and
among cervical cancer patients (63.2%). In addition to this, interpretation, wrote the article and acted as the corresponding
however, we found a higher prevalence (51.4%) in the author. M.S. supervised development of the article and
squamous cell carcinoma group and a 2.54-fold greater helped in data interpretation and manuscript evaluation. P.T.
likelihood of having HIV. Oesophageal, skin and penile conceived of the presented idea and helped in manuscript
cancers were also common in HIV-positive patients. The evaluation. P.M. and P.T. designed the study and developed
association with HPV and penile cancer is well established. the methodology.
22
While ART has decreased the incidence of NHL, more cases
of oesophageal cancer and stomach cancer are being References
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http://www.sajhivmed.org.za 204 Open Access