[Ramadan fasting during treatment with external beam radiotherapy]

Many Muslim cancer patients insist on fasting during the month of Ramadan, even during treatment. The purpose of this observational study is to study the practice of fasting, in patients receiving external radiation therapy.

Our study was conducted during the month of Ramadan 1441 (2018) in the radiotherapy department of Ibn Rochd University Hospital of Casablanca. We included all patients who received external radiotherapy during this period. We thus collected the characteristics of patients, disease and treatment modalities. After an interview, with a pre-established questionnaire, we were able to establish the observance of the fast.

We collected a total of 209 patients. The most frequently represented locations were breast cancer followed by gynecological cancers in 35.4% and 18.7% respectively. All our patients were fasting Ramadan before the diagnosis of cancer, however, only 39.2% were fasting during the treatment by radiotherapy, and just 40% of patients have discussed the possibility of fasting with their oncologist. In multivariate analysis, the stage of the disease was the only factor related to the fasting status of our patients.

Even under treatment, many of our patients fast during the month of Ramadan. Further studies are needed to evaluate the tolerance of fasting in order to better answer the question "can I fast?".