No abstract

We report seven cases of adenocarcinoma of the vermiform appendix occurring in Iceland during 1974–1989. The patients ranged in age from 25–83 years, mean age 55.1 years. There were five males and two females. Five had mucinous adenocarcinoma, two had adenocarcinoma. Four patients presented with symptoms and signs of acute appendicitis and all had surgically resectable disease. Three of these patients were alive with no evidence of disease four months, two years and 15 years after presentation; one death of disease occurred seven years after ileocecal resection. In three cases, the clinical presentation was that of metastatic adenocarcinoma of unknown origin. Of these patients two were diagnosed at autopsy and one after appendectomy for perforated appendicitis. Survival in this group was six weeks, three months and twelve months, respectively. In none of our patients was the diagnosis made preoperatively and no tumors were found in appendices removed incidental to other intra‐abdominal operations. The incidence of adenocarcinoma of the vermiform appendix in Iceland during 1974–1989 was approximately 0.2 cases/100.000/year.

No abstract

A retrospective study was performed of all patients diagnosed as having pancreatic cancer in Iceland during the period 1974-85 (12 years). The incidence of the disease during the period according to this study was 10.7 per 100,000 males and 9.8 per 100,000 females, with age-adjusted world standard incidences of 9.0 per 100,000 males and 6.7 per 100,000 females. A total of 301 patients were identified; adequate information could be obtained for 281 patients, and 225 (74.8%) had the diagnosis histologically confirmed. Two hundred and five patients with adenocarcinoma were accepted for detailed analysis. Of the patients with adenocarcinoma 139 (67.8%) were diagnosed at laparotomy, and 33 of them had the tumour resected, with an operative mortality of 12.1%. The cancer was located in the head of the pancreas in 102 patients (49.8%), and in 159 (77.6%) metastases were found at the time of diagnosis. The median survival time for the patients with adenocarcinoma was 95.4 days (SD +/- 11.1 days), although there were two patients in this group who were alive 5 years after diagnosis. The median survival for the total group of 281 patients was 98.3 days (SD +/- 11.0 days), although 6 of these patients lived for more than 5 years. The percentage of histologically confirmed tumours in Iceland is high compared with many previously reported studies.