Introduction: Gastric cancer is the second most common GI malignancy in Zahedan. This investigation was undertaken to define the demographic,clinicopathological, and prognostic factors relevant to patients withgastric adenocarcinoma.
Methods: We did a retrospective study of 100 patientswith gastric cancer who had been at Ali Ebne Abitaleb Hospital and Khatam al Anbia Hospitalin 2004-2006. Data analysis was done using the Kaplan-Meier method and the Cox proportional hazard model.
Results: The mean patient age at diagnosiswas 50 years (range= 28-83 years), and 68% were male. Themale-to-female ratio of patients was 2.1/1. Ninety-six percent of thepatients were Iranian and in the Balouch ethnic group was presented more than the Sistani ethnic group, and 4% were Afghan. Five percent of the patients reported a family history of gastric cancer.67 patients (67 %) presented with stages III or IV disease, whereas 33patients, with stages I or II disease. Poorly differentiatedlesions were present in 71%. In 16 patients, metastasis was seen. Common chief complaint was abdominal pain in epigastria (58 %). Survival data was available in 78 cases. The median survival was 8 months.
Conclusion: Gastric cancer is the second most common GI malignancies in Zahedan. This pattern is different from other regions in Iran that gastric cancer is most common GI malignancies. This fact will need to be confirmed by a longer period of observation.