Primary small bowel malignancies - Single-center results of three decades

We highlight one medical center's experiences with primary malignancies of the small bowel. During a 27-year period, 79 patients were treated fur smal l bowel tumors. Of these, 15 (20%) were lost to follow-up; thus, 61 patient s were reviewed retrospectively with emphasis on histological distribution and their topography, perioperative complications, overall survival, and pr ognostic factors. In our 63-patient series, 33 (51.6%) presented with adeno carcinoma; 10 (15.5%), lymphoma; 8 (12.1%), leiomyosarcoma; 5 (7.6%), neuro genic tumor; 2 (3%), unclassified carcinoma; 5 (7.6%), other types of sarco ma; and 1 patient presented with synchronous adenocarcinoma and lymphoma. O f all patients, 30 (46.9%) were curatively treated, whereas 34 (53.1%) unde rwent palliative procedures. Hospital lethality was 9.4% and mainly occurre d in patients operated on under emergency circumstances. Reoperation rate w as 29.7%. The observation period lasted at least five years or until death; three patients were alive less than five years postoperatively. Cumulative five-year survival rate was 22.5% in the adenocarcinoma group, 33.3% in th e: lymphoma group, 33.3% in the leiomyosarcoma group, and 22.2% in patients with other tumors, The uncharacteristic symptoms presented by patients suf fering from small intestinal malignancies make early diagnosis difficult. T herefore, especially in patients with lone-standing bowel diseases, maligna ncy should be considered. Early diagnosis and surgical treatment lead to a good prognosis as shown by our study.