Gastric adenocarcinoma--a perspective from Durban, KwaZulu-Natal

KwaZulu-Natal is not a recognised 'hot-spot' for gastric cancer. The purpose of this paper was to ascertain the clinicopathological features of a cohort of cases encountered in the province. Data for 124 cases were collected and analysed for age, gender, race, tumour size, histological type, lymph node status and Helicobacter pylori status. The majority of cancers occurred in the 6th and 7th decades, irrespective of sex and race. More cases were encountered in males than females. The average tumour size was 4.5 cm, two-thirds of cases presented with lymph node metastases, and the vast majority of cases were of the intestinal histological subtype. Only 50 of the 124 cases contained microscopically demonstrable H. pylori organisms. While not as common as in the Western Cape and Japan, gastric cancer in KwaZulu-Natal has similar clinicopathological features to those found in these two high-risk areas.