Esophageal cancer in Yemen

To document the age and gender distribution, histopathologic type as well as grading characteristics of Esophageal Cancer (EC) in Yemen.

A case series.

Department of Pathology, Sana'a University, Sana'a, Yemen, from January 2005 to December 2011.

Three hundred twenty five cases of EC were included for review. The diagnoses were made on hematoxylin and eosin stained sections and the cases were categorized into Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC) and adenocarcinoma (ADC).

Out of the 325 EC cases, 163 (50%) were SCC (females 67%, males 33%) and 158 (49%) were ADC (females 30%, males 70%). The rest of the cases were 2 adenosquamous carcinoma and 2 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The mean age, for SCC was 60 years while the mean age for ADC was 65 years. The peak incidence for SCC was found in the age groups of fifth and sixth decades for females and in fifth and seventh decades for males. The maximum number of patients with ADC was seen in sixth and seventh decades for both gender. Well-differentiated histological grading accounted for 247 (77%) for both genders and types. The moderately differentiated and poorly differentiated accounted, for 17% and 6% respectively.

The EC in Yemen had a predominance of SCC in female patients and predominance of ADC in male patients which was usually of a well-differentiated grade.