Original Articles 2012-02-20

The Use of Herbal Medicine and Traditional Medicine Formulations (TMFs) for Hypertension at Traditional Medicine Hospital, Yangon

This study was done to determine the use of herbal medicines and Traditional Medicine Formulations (TMFs) for treating hypertension at Outpatients' Department (OPD) of Traditional Medicine Hospital, Yangon. This study was a cross-sectional, descriptive study in 140 hypertensive patients attending th

Original Articles 2020-09-11

Is Community Intervention Effective for Improving Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Care in Hard-to-Reach Areas of Chin State, Myanmar?

To tackle the maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) care needs is a challenging situation in remote and hard-to-reach areas. Intervention activities focusing on strengthening community health care network through community participation and supporting Basic Health Staffs for MNCH ser

Original Articles 2020-09-14

Incidence of Snakebite in Four Townships of Yangon Region

The true incidence of snakebite in Myanmar is unknown. The current data are based on hospital returns to Ministry of Health and Sports and they are likely to be under-reported. A community-based survey is useful to know the current burden of snakebite and thus for planning and formulating str

Next Prev

Aims of MHSR Journal

• To serve as an important medium for the publication of original research in the field of medical science and health research, thus filling gaps in health knowledge for effective utilization of research findings
• To impart current medical knowledge and updated scientific information obtained from research to health professionals for better and appropriate health care management
• To disseminate recent basic, applied and social research findings among health personnel of different strata for enhancing worldwide health development

Archives   2020

Myanmar   Health   Sciences   Research   Journal

Volume   32,  Number   2

TITLE:   Role of Immunofluorescence in Detecting HER2/neu Status of Breast Carcinoma
AUTHOR:   Ohnmar Kyaw, Aye Aye Lwin, Moh Moh Htun, Swe Zin Myint, Myint Myint Nyein, Khin Saw Aye
SOURCE:   Myanmar Health Sciences Research Journal, 2020; 32(2):166-172
ABSTRACT:  

Breast carcinoma becomes the third most common female cancers in Myanmar. HER2/neu, one of the prognostic markers of breast carcinoma, triggers cell proliferation, differentiation and inhibits apoptosis and is associated with worse prognosis. Targeted therapy against HER2/neu, trastuzumab (Herceptin), significantly increases disease-free intervals and overall survivals in both early stage and metastatic breast carcinomas. And so, an appropriate HER2/neu evaluation becomes important for the proper identification of patients eligible for treatment with anti-HER2 targeted therapy. The present study was aimed to assess HER2/neu status in 94 Myanmar breast carcinoma patients attending the Yangon General Hospital from June 2016 to May 2017 by immunofluorescence and its expression was compared with immunohistochemistry (IHC) to determine the accuracy of immunofluorescence. The mean age of the patients was 52.23±11.82 years (26-87 years) and 60% of cases were B-R grade 2 (moderately differentiated) according to the Bloom-Richardson System. HER2/neuexpression was compared between two different methods. Immunofluorescence detected higher expression of HER2/neu in score +1 and score +3 but less expression in score +2 (less equivocal cases than routine IHC). There was significant statistical association between HER2/neupositivity and histological grade of breast carcinoma (pvalue=0.000) in both methods. Concordance rate between IHC and immunofluorescence was 88.3% (95% CI). The present study showed that immunofluorescence was a highly reproducible and very robust method with good concordance with routine IHC. The results highlighted the accurate assessment of HER2/neu status is a critical issue in selecting breast carcinoma patients that might benefit from targeted therapy, trastuzumab.