Abstract

Esophageal cancer (EC) is an aggressive tumor that carries a poor prognosis. EC is the fourth commonest malignant tumor reported in Pakistan.Objective of thisstudy was to assess epidemiological and clinical characteristics of esophageal cancer, identified over a 10-year period at the largest referral centre of Karachi, Pakistan.

Methods:

This retrospective study covered all histopathologically confirmed cases of esophageal carcinoma from endoscopic biopsy, seen within the 9-year period from January 2010 to 20 December 2019.The data was analyzed using SPSS v21.

Results:

 Over the period of 10 years, 1066 patients with EC had been identified, 57 patients were excluded due to incomplete records. Their ages ranged from 15 to 92 years with a mean of 49.26 ±14.24 years. Female were 566 (56.1%) and male 443 (43.9%).Dysphagia and weight loss were the most common symptoms. Most of the patients were belonging to the province of Sindh 849 (84.1%). Beetle nuts, pan and gutka were the most predominant risk factors in 768(76.1%) of patients. The most common EC type was squamous cell carcinoma 834 (83%) followed by Adenocarcinoma 175 (17%) of patients. EC predominantly involved mid to distal esophagus (67%).

Keywords: Esophagus, squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, female, beetle nuts.