[CLINICAL PATHOLOGICAL FEATURES AND SURVIVAL RATE FACTORS IN COMPLICATED PRIMARY GASTROINTESTINAL CANCERS]

This study evaluated 115 patients with complicated primary gastrointestinal cancers which underwent surgical resection at Belen Hospital, Trujillo, Per , since 1966 to 1996, with the aim to determine their clinical-pathological features and to identify some prognostic factors that influenced five-year survival rate in those complicated with obstruction. Median age was 55 19 years (range, 4 to 91 years) and the male: femaleratio was of 1.5: 1. Abdominal pain was the most common symptom (100%). The most frequent complication was obstruction (72%), followed by perforation (17%) and massive haemorrage (11%). The gastric adenocarci noma was most frequently associated w th obstruction and massive haemorrage; whilst perforation ocurred meanly in small bowei neoplasms, especially in lymphomas. Five year survival rate in the total series was of 13%, and this was greater in those cases with obstruction. In patients with gastric outlet obstructive syndrome the tumor size (p<0.05) and macroscopic type (p<0.05) were factors related with the 5 - year - survival rate and in those with intestinal obstruction by colon cancer prognostic factors were the tumor size (p<0.05) and the clinical stage (p<0.05). We concluded that an early diagnosis in these patients is very important to define an opportune surgical treatment.