[Population based data in North Baden on malignant tumors of the gastrointestinal tract]

Population-based data of malignomas of the gastro-intestinal tract were evaluated from the regional cancer registry North-Baden for the period of 1971-1980. The age standardized incidence of oesophagus carcinomas shows a steady level of 4.5/100,000 (males) and 0.5/100,000 (females); the age standardized incidence of stomach carcinomas increased from 1971 to 1974, then shows a decline for both males and females, where the colon carcinomas show an increase of 80% for the same time period, also the cancer of the small intestines and of the rectum, increased slightly. Compared to data of other cancer registries the world standardized incidence of rectum carcinomas is of the same level as the data from the cancer registry of Bas-Rhin and is with an incidence of 25.8/100,000 males; 16.2/100,000 females above the incidence of all other cancer registries. The post-operative TNM-stage differs for the different primary topographies. Especially patients with colon carcinomas were operated when the carcinoma was in an advanced stage, patients with rectum carcinomas were operated at a less advanced stage. Male patients with an oesophagus carcinoma showed in a significant percentage an advanced smoking and alcohol consumption, compared to patients suffering from stomach, colon or rectum carcinomas. The specialized organisation of the cancer registry shows a high efficiency due to the requirements of the public health system, and is very useful in the evaluation of descriptive and analytic population-based cancer data.