Epidemiological profile of gastric cancer in the northwestern region of Algeria: about 116 cases

Background: Gastric cancer (GC) remains a public health issue despite the global incidence decrease over the last decades. GC is the third leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide and stills of poor prognosis due to its late detection. The overall objective of our study was to describe the epidemiological, clinical, and histopathological aspects of stomach cancer. However, the specific purpose was to determine the gastric precancerous lesions among patients with histologically confirmed GC admitted at the gastroenterology department of the University Hospital of Sidi-Bel-Abbes city, Algeria. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the patients' medical records admitted from 2010 to 2015. Intended for the statistical analysis of the enrolled data, we executed Student t-test and Chi-squared test, significance level was set at 5%. Histologic evidence objectified the biopsies performed during endoscopy; Hematoxylin and Eosin staining as well as the slides interpretation were executed at the level of the pathology department as a routine examination. Results: 116 cases of GC were recorded. The mean age of the whole studied cohort was 58.96 +/- 14.75 years. We reported a sex ratio of 1.36 with a peak frequency observed in male gender (57.76%). Gastric precancerous lesions, as well as tumor histology, and topography were revealed. In our context, adenocarcinoma was significantly higher among male patients and linitis plastica was expressively related to female gender (P= 0.01). Conclusions: Management of gastric precancerous lesions additionally to early diagnosis represent effective preventive and therapeutic methods of GC.