Gastrointestinal malignancies

ABSTRACT

Forty one cases of gastrointestinal malignancies were dealt within a two-year period; 16 cases were gastric carcinoma [39%] and 13 were cases of cob-rectal carcinoma [31.7%]. This is in contrast to developed countries, where colorectal carcinoma rather than gastric carcinoma is the leading gastrointestinal malignancy. All operable cases of gastric carcinoma were lymph node positive and thus had a poor prognosis, while only seven out of thirteen cases, of colo-rectal carcinoma were lymph node positive. Thus around half of these had a favorable prognosis; most cases of colo-rectal carcinoma occurred in the bilharzia-endemic South. Chronic irritation coupled with altered immune response are probably responsible. The literature is also reviewed