%0 Journal Article
%T Epidemiology of Gastric Cancer in the Gangetic Areas of West Bengal
%A Ashis Kumar Saha
%A Somnath Maitra
%A Subhas Chandra Hazra
%J ISRN Gastroenterology
%D 2013
%R 10.1155/2013/823483
%X There is marked geographical variation in the distribution and incidence of stomach cancer. We tried here to describe the pattern of relationships of age, sex, religion distribution, symptom profile, histological subtypes and Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection with gastric cancer in Gangetic West Bengal. This study was done over a period of five years (2006¨C2010). The patients residing in the Gangetic areas of West Bengal presenting with upper gastrointestinal symptoms underwent UGI endoscopy. Among gastric cancer patients, demographic characteristics, symptomatology, macroscopic and histologic lesions and H. pylori status were analyzed. At confidence level 95%, ¡° ¡± and ¡° ¡± value were calculated to find significance. Among 23851 patients underwent UGI endoscopy, 14106 were males, 9745 females, 17889 Hindus and 5962 Muslims. Among 462 gastric cancer patients, Male£¿:£¿Female 2.7£¿:£¿1, Hindus£¿:£¿Muslim 3£¿:£¿1, abdominal pain, indigestion, and weight-loss were commonest presentations. Antrum was the commonest site whereas ulceroproliferative type was commonest type. H. pylori positivity was 80.89% in adenocarcinoma with statistically significant relation with intestinal type. In future, our target will be to modify risk factors; it will need further demographic studies and analysis, so that we can detect it earliest. 1. Introduction The incidence of gastric carcinoma has fallen dramatically in the last 50 years, but according to IARC-Globocan 2008, it is the third commonest cause of cancer death after lung and liver cancer in male and after breast and lung cancer in female in the world. It is still the 2nd and 4th most common cancer in males and females, respectively [1, 2]. Interestingly there is a marked geographical variation in stomach cancer. Highest incidence rates were reported in Japan, China, Eastern Europe and a few areas of Latin America and low rise in North America, India, Philippines, most countries in Africa, some Western European countries, and Australia previously. Globally, smoking, tobacco chewing, and alcohol are the risk factors for gastric cancer [3]. In India, there are strong associations between them. Histologically, there are three subtypes of gastric adenocarcinoma-intestinal, diffuse, and indeterminate or mixed type. Of those, intestinal subtype influences the changes in the epidemiological incidence [4]. Case fatality ratio of gastric cancer is higher than other common malignancies, like, colon, breast, and prostate cancer [5]. Worldwide, the well known epidemiological observation in gastric cancer includes the following. (a)
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn.gastroenterology/2013/823483/