Frequency of gastrointestinal tumours at a teaching hospital in Karachi

Malignant gastrointestinal tumours are amongst the commonest tumours exhibiting an annual increase globally. There is a change in the morphological site of involvement observed over the years. In this study biopsy proven malignant gastrointestinal tumours seen at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi from 1961-1992 were analyzed with reference to age, sex, topography and histology. The study showed an increase in malignant gastrointestinal tumours over the years, from 9% in 1961 to 17% in 1992 with respect to all malignant tumours reported. The tumours affected a much younger age in our population, 74% occurring between 35-64 years of age. Carcinoma oesophagus accounted for 10% of all malignancies (48.7% male and 62.4% female gastrointestinal tumours), while gastric carcinoma remained unchanged (14% male and 9% female GI tumours). The colorectal carcinoma (25.4% of male and 20.1% of female GI tumours) and carcinoma pancreas (1.2% male and 1.5% female GI tumours) were less frequently seen. It was observed that malignant gastrointestinal tumours have increased significantly over the years in our local population as part of international trend and are occurring at a much younger age as compared to western population. Carcinoma oesophagus was seen more frequently than gastric carcinoma and colorectal carcinoma. A substantially higher number tend to be more anaplastic being seen at an advanced stage of disease at the time of diagnosis.