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Clinical Trial
. 2018 Dec 16:2018:4678362.
doi: 10.1155/2018/4678362. eCollection 2018.

Cutaneous Malignancy due to Arsenicosis in Bangladesh: 12-Year Study in Tertiary Level Hospital

Md Iqbal Mahmud Choudhury  1 , Nilufar Shabnam  2 , Tazin Ahsan  3 , S M Abu Ahsan  4 , Md Saiful Kabir  5 , Rashed Md Khan  6 , Md Abdal Miah  7 , Mohd Kamal Uddin  8 , Md Aminur Rashid Liton  9
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

Cutaneous Malignancy due to Arsenicosis in Bangladesh: 12-Year Study in Tertiary Level Hospital

Md Iqbal Mahmud Choudhury et al. Biomed Res Int. .

Abstract

Bangladesh is grappling with the largest mass poisoning of a population in the world due to contamination of drinking water with naturally occurring inorganic arsenic. It is estimated that 75 million people of 59 (out of 64) districts are at risk of drinking contaminated water with arsenic above 50μg/L. Long term exposure to arsenic causes cancers, including skin, lung, and bladder. This is a randomized prospective study to see the prevalence of skin cancer from arsenic affected area of Bangladesh, as well as their variation by geographical area, age, gender, location on the body, and socioeconomic conditions, in outpatient department of plastic surgery unit of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU). A total of 960 patients with skin cancers comprised of 528 males and 432 females were selected for the study from January 2004 to December 2015. In this 12-year study, we found squamous cell carcinoma, basal cell carcinoma, melanoma, and Merkel cell carcinoma to be associated with the ingestion of arsenic contaminated ground water. This is a reflection of a small part of the total national scenario of devastating result of arsenic mediated cancer in terms of skin malignancy. This study will help the future researchers who are contemplating to work on arsenic induced health problem.

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