PATTERN OF PRIMARY GASTROINTESTINAL CANCER - KING-KHALID-UNIVERSITY-HOSPITAL EXPERIENCE AND REVIEW OF PUBLISHED NATIONAL DATA

This study is based on data collected from a total of 629 patients (43 5 male and 194 female) with histologically confirmed cancer of the pri mary gastrointestinal tract and its accessory glands, seen at King Kha lid University Hospital (KKUH) between January 1985 and December 1993. During this period, a total of 2464-cancer cases were identified at K KUH. The relative frequency and rank of order are determined for vario us gastrointestinal cancers. as well as distribution according to age, sex and primary site affected. Gastrointestinal malignancy accounts f or 25.5% of total cancer cases seen at KKUH. The mean age of patients was 59 +/- 17 years, with a male-to-female ratio of 2.24:1. Primary li ver cancer was the mast common malignancy (34%), followed by gastric c ancer (18%), colorectal (17%) and esophageal cancer (12%). We compared our findings with national published data from different provinces in Saudi Arabia. Results from this report stress thr importance of preve ntion, screening and early detection far gastrointestinal malignancy.