title: Radiation therapy interruption in a poor resource setting: causes and management..
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Treatment interruption is the failure to execute approved treatment plan of a patient. This adversely affects treatment outcomeif not properly managed. This retrospective study causes and management of radiation treatment interruptions during High Dose Rate Brachytherapy(HDRB) for carcinoma of the cervix in a teaching hospital in Nigeria.
  
  
  METHODS
  Five hundred patients with cervical carcinoma, who received HDRB, post external beam radiotherapy, between August, 2008 and July, 2013 were assessed. They were grouped into (A): those who experienced treatment interruption and (B): those who did not. Each patient was scheduled to receive three fractions of HDRB over 3 weeks. Those in groups A were assessed for the exact treatment fraction missed, the cause and duration of treatment interruption and the actions taken to compensate for non-execution of treatment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 90 patients fall into group A and most (41) of them experienced interruptions in the third fraction of their treatment. The most frequent (44%) causes of treatment interruptions observed among them were patient-related. Record of compensation for treatment interruption was not found in patients' treatment folders. This action may be due to lack of functional procedures for managing treatment interruptions and insufficient follow-up of patients, who never came back for consideration for compensation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study showed that radiation oncology centres need to review their policies for managing treatment interruptions and documentation. Also, the mechanism for patients' follow-up should be strengthened to a reasonable extent to achieve better radiotherapy care.
authors.forename: B I
authors.initials: BI
authors.lastname: Akinlade
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Folasire
authors.forename: T N
authors.initials: TN
authors.lastname: Elumelu-Kupoluyi
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Adenipekun
authors.forename: U B
authors.initials: UB
authors.lastname: Iyobosa
authors.forename: O B
authors.initials: OB
authors.lastname: Campbell
mesh_terms: D001918:Brachytherapy / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003906:Developing Countries; D004868:Equipment Failure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009549:Nigeria; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000191:economics / Q000532:radiotherapy*