Thesis (MTech (Nursing))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2011. / To determine the incidence, risk factors and the treatment of lymphedema after breast cancer treatment at the oncology unit of KATH, Kumasi, Ghana from 01 January 2005 to 31 December 2008. Descriptive retrospective survey was used. Using a data capture sheet, data was collected from the medical records of the breast cancer patients. Breast cancer and lymphedema-related variables were collected. Data was analyzed as descriptive statistics. Chi-square test was applied to determine whether or not two variables are independent variables. Among 313 patients treated for breast cancer between 2005 and 2008, 31 (9.9%) developed lymphedema after treatment. A chi-square test showed that axillary lymph node dissection was statistically a significant risk factor of lymphedema (Chi-square test value=7.055, P value=0.008). Radiation and late stage of breast cancer diagnosis may have contributed in development of lymphedema despite having P value> 0.05. Age, body mass index (BMI) and hypertension were also not associated with lymphedema.

Objective: To complete a cost-minimization analysis (CMA) of the cost of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) and axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) in the management of early-stage breast cancer (ESBC) in a hypothetical Ontario hospital setting. Methods: Decision-analysis modeling, with a decision-tree and Markov states, was used to estimate hospital costs for the two treatment options. The model was populated with data from the literature and costs from the Ontario Case Costing Initiative, a publicly accessible, government-sponsored, costing database. Model variability and parameter uncertainty were quantified by probabilistic sensitivity analysis (PSA). Results: The SLNB treatment algorithm was cost-minimizing compared to the ALND-only treatment option. The costs of treating postoperative complications did not contribute to the incremental average cost. Conclusion: A treatment algorithm that involves SLNB as the initial axillary-staging procedure in the setting of ESBC offers a cost-savings over the ALND-only option. This result is generalizable to all Ontario hospitals.

Objective: To complete a cost-minimization analysis (CMA) of the cost of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) and axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) in the management of early-stage breast cancer (ESBC) in a hypothetical Ontario hospital setting. Methods: Decision-analysis modeling, with a decision-tree and Markov states, was used to estimate hospital costs for the two treatment options. The model was populated with data from the literature and costs from the Ontario Case Costing Initiative, a publicly accessible, government-sponsored, costing database. Model variability and parameter uncertainty were quantified by probabilistic sensitivity analysis (PSA). Results: The SLNB treatment algorithm was cost-minimizing compared to the ALND-only treatment option. The costs of treating postoperative complications did not contribute to the incremental average cost. Conclusion: A treatment algorithm that involves SLNB as the initial axillary-staging procedure in the setting of ESBC offers a cost-savings over the ALND-only option. This result is generalizable to all Ontario hospitals.