Aclinicopathological survey of esophageal cancer in patients referred to a gastroenterology clinic in Tehran, 1991-2005

 Abstract Background: Esophageal cancer is one of the major malignancies, with various epidemiological aspects in recent years in developing countries, including increased prevalence and variations of pathologic patterns. This may be due to increasing rates of Barrett’s esophagus, gastroesophageal reflux, smoking and obesity. This study was performed from 1991 to 2005 in order to evaluate various clinicopathological aspects of esophageal cancer in patients referred to a gastroenterology clinic in Tehran. Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study was performed according to data from clinical records, including demographic information, pathologic and endoscopic reports. We used SPSS/12 software for statistical analysis. Chi-square and ANOVAtests were used and a P-value less than 0.05 was considered significant. Results: 156 patients (87 males and 69 females) with an average age of 62.4±10.3 years (mean ± SD) were studied. 105 (67.3%), 39 (25%), and 12 (7.7%) patients had squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), adenocarcinoma and metastatic carcinoma, respectively. The location of tumors was 20.6 % (32 patients) in upper third, 35.2% (55 patients) in middle third and 44.2% (69 patients) in the lower third of the esophagus. There was no significant relation between sex and age of patients with the type of cancer and location of tumors. There was a significant relation between the location of tumors and cancer pathology (P<0.001). Conclusion: In our study, esophageal cancer had no significant epidemiological variations, so SCC was still more common than other esophageal cancers. Upper and lower thirds were the most common locations of SCC and adenocarcinoma of the esophagus, respectively.