Cancer cases detected in the prevention and control service of a private cancer clinic in Peru

PURPOSE: Describe the characteristics of patients seen at the Cancer Prevention and Control Service at a Peruvian private cancer clinic in 2014. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This retrospective clinical study analyzed the prevalence of 10 cancers and characteristics of patients seen at a private cancer center located in Lima, Peru. The study sample included 7680 adults, and data were collected from de-identified medical records. RESULTS: The average age of the patients was 44.71 years and 98,82% of them had private insurance. The majority of patients were women (67.69%). Our gross incidence rate of cancer was 35.16 per 100,000 in the Cancer Prevention and Control Service in 2014. Only 0.35% had cancer, and most of those diagnosed with cancer (77.78%) were diagnosed in the early stages, stages I and II. The two most common cancers observed were breast and thyroid cancer. CONCLUSIONS: The high rates of early, rather than late-stage diagnoses at this clinic are dramatically different than national rates. This difference may be because we are analyzing data from a prevention service seeing mainly patients with private insurance as opposed to national data, which consists primarily of patients seen in oncologic services with national insurance.