Anatomical Distribution And Demographic Data Of EsophagealCancer From 1997-2013 In Mashhad, Iran

Esophageal cancer is the eighth most common cancer in the world which consists of two mainhistological types: Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and adenocarcinoma (AC). It is characterized byrapid development and fatal prognosis in most cases. The global statistics show that Over 80% ofesophageal cancers occur in developing countries. The highest incidence is in the age group 50-70years. The disease is diagnosed more frequently in males than in females and the incidence ratevaries widely from area to another. This study was designed to determine a new data of anatomicaldistribution and demographic data of this cancer in North East of Iran. Records of patientsdiagnosed with esophageal cancer from March 1997 to February 2013in Qaem and Omid hospital ofMashhad were reviewed for demographic data and anatomical location of tumor. Results wereanalyzed by SPSS version16. 4616 patients, 2518 (55%) were male and 2098 (45%) were female with amean age of 65 years. About 85% of patients have squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and 10%adenocarcinoma and 5% were unspecified. The distribution of esophageal cancer by anatomicallocation was 5% in upper third, 26% in the middle third and 40% in the lower third of esophagus. SCCoccurred in 39% of cases with involvement of upper third of the esophagus whereas adenocarcinomaarose primarily from the lower third. There was not a meaningful different between sex variablesand pathology statistically. Our results showed that the most common area of esophageal cancer islower third of esophagus. SCC was the most frequent type of this cancer. Carefully designedepidemiologic studies are required to increase our understanding of the complexity of esophagealcancer.