ABSTRACT
El Cáncer Gástrico, se considera la segunda causa de muerte por neoplasia en el mundo después del Cáncer de Pulmón, y en Chile ocupa el primer lugar. En el presente trabajo se analizan algunas características histológicas y epidemiológicas del cáncer en forma evolutiva entre los años 1975-2005. Los resultados muestran que, en general, el Cáncer Gástrico es de mayor prevalencia en hombres, que aumentó en la incidencia del tipo histológico difuso y que en cuanto a la localización, ésta se está presentando mas frecuentemente a nivel del tercio proximal. A través de este estudio se logran evidenciar los cambios evolutivos ocurridos en el Cáncer Gástrico en Chile, tomando como muestra la casuística observada en el Hospital Clínico de la Universidad de Chile a lo largo de los últimos 30 años.
Background: Gastric cancer is the first cause of cancer death in Chile. Aim: To study the changes in epidemiological and pathological features of gastric cancer that occurred between 1975 and 2005. Material and methods: Analysis of 1193 pathological samples derived from total and subtotal gastrectomies for gastric cancer, performed at a Clinical Hospital between 1975 and 2005. The variables obtained from the reports were age, gender, pathological type, location and depth. Results: The pathological samples came from 803 males and 308 females. There was an increase in the frequency of diffuse type of carcinoma since 1985. In the last decade, 40 percent of carcinomas were of this pathological type. Among patients operated in the first decade of the study period, 60 percent of lesions were located in the inferior 2/3 of the stomach. However in the last decade 45 percent of lesions were in the upper third of the stomach. Conclusions: Gastric cancer predominates in males. The diffuse type became the main pathological type in the last decade. In the same period, almost half of the lesions were located in the upper third of the stomach.