Demographic and clinical characteristics of gastric cancer patients in north of Iran, Mazandaran province, 2008-2014

Abstract

Gastric cancer has been known as a poor prognosis disease with a high degree of mortality. In Iran, it has been increased during the previous two decades, especially in northern part of the country. The aim of this study was to determine the demographic and clinical characteristics of gastric cancer in Mazandaran province. All patients with gastric cancer diagnosis treated in the Imam Khomeini educational hospital or Touba Polyclinic, a university affiliated center, from March 2008 to March 2014 were included. Demographic data, the symptoms at the time of presentation, tumor size, type of tumor, lymph node involvement, status in terms of metastatic disease, therapeutic plan and type of chemotherapy regimens were gathered from patients' medical records. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS, version 16. Totally, 643 patients were investigated. The mean age of patients was 64.34 years and men were more affected than women. "Time to relapse" and "time to progression" were 13 and 6.5 months, respectively. The most common initial symptoms at diagnosis were nausea, vomiting and epigastric pain (47.4%). Only in 6.3%, the disease was diagnosed at the initial stages. The most common site of involvement was cardia (almost 40%) and antrum (32%). More than 91% of tumors were adenocarcinoma. DCF (Docetaxel, Cisplatin, 5FU) (43.3%), Xeloda (15.2%), DOX (Docetaxel, Oxaliplatin) (13.8%) and ECF (Epirubicin, Cisplatin.5FU) (9.2%) were the most common used regimens. There was a trend for improved survival with DCF regimen (P = 0.08). Most gastric cancer patients were referred in the advanced stage or metastatic disease. The demographic characteristics are consistent with other previous reports. DCF regimen may have some advantages over other chemotherapy regimens.

Gastric Carcinoma in Young Patients and Its Clinicopathological Characteristics and Prognosis

“…YG was further divided into two groups, Group A and Group B. Nearly 5-15% of the patients with gastric carcinoma are <40 years and only 1-2% of the patients are <30 years [ 5 , 7 , 8 ]. As reported by Kath et al, the female patient ratio was 75% in gastric cancer patients below the age of 30 years [ 8 ].…”

“…The rate of gastric carcinoma has increased in young patients over the past few decades [ 3 , 4 ]. Though gastric carcinoma is rare in young people, it commonly shows a more aggressive biological behavior with a worse prognostic result [ 5 , 6 ]. Nearly 5-15% of the patients with gastric carcinoma are aged <40 years, and only 1-2% of the patients are aged <30 years [ 5 , 7 , 8 ].…”

“…Though gastric carcinoma is rare in young people, it commonly shows a more aggressive biological behavior with a worse prognostic result [ 5 , 6 ]. Nearly 5-15% of the patients with gastric carcinoma are aged <40 years, and only 1-2% of the patients are aged <30 years [ 5 , 7 , 8 ]. In young patients, the clinical outcome still remains a controversy despite some studies have indicated a poor prognosis in young patients [ 9 ].…”

Efficacy and Safety of FLOT regimen vs DCF, FOLFOX, and ECF regimens as Perioperative Chemotherapy Treatments for Resectable Gastric Cancer Patients

“…To our knowledge, this is one of the first studies performed to compare the efficacy and tolerability of most common perioperative chemotherapy regimens in the managing of resectable gastric cancer in the Iranian population. Mousavi et al in 2015 evaluated the efficacy of several most prescribed chemotherapy regimens in resectable and metastatic gastric cancer patients lived in the north of Iran and concluded that the DCF regimen prolonged patients' survival time more than ECF, DOX, and Xeloda -based chemotherapy [48]. Due to a high prevalence of gastric cancer in the countries such as Iran and a lack of definite national and international guidelines to recommend the best therapeutic options [23,48], the necessity of conducting a comparative study among chemotherapeutic regimens is crucial.…”

Therapeutic response to ramucirumab + folfiri in patients with metastatic gastric cancer

“…[ 5 6 ] Gastric cancer is the most common cancer in men and the second one after breast malignancy in women in Iran and some other countries. [ 7 8 ] It may result in distant metastasis if not treated. [ 9 10 ] In advanced stages, the therapeutic outcomes are poor even after the use of optimal treatment.…”