Current epidemiology of periampullary malignancies in a tertiary referral center in the Philippines: A five-year review

ABSTRACT

Background@#Periampullary malignancies traditionally occur during the later decades of life, but casual observations at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) have shown more patients presenting at younger ages. Updates on the epidemiology and clinical features of these uncommon cancers may improve detection and result in better outcomes. @*Objective@#The study aimed to describe the current epidemiology of adult patients diagnosed with periampullary malignancies seen in the past five years at the PGH Department of Surgery. @*Methods@#Demographic and clinical data were obtained on patients with either pancreatic head, ampullary, distal bile duct, or duodenal cancer diagnosed from 2015 to 2019. Age and sex distributions, rates of symptom presentation, utilization of diagnostic modalities, and prevalence of comorbid conditions were analyzed per individual primary site and for the entire study population. @*Results@#Two hundred seventy-seven patients were included in the study, comprised mostly of pancreatic head cancers (56.32%) followed by ampullary (19.86%), duodenal (9.75%), and distal CBD cancers (7.58%). The mean age of presentation was 59.30 years. 33.94% of cases occurred in the 6th decade of life, while 24.91% of patients were aged 50 years and below. There was a nearly equal distribution by sex (50.90% female, 49.10% male). Majority of patients presented with jaundice (89.65%) and abdominal pain (71.64%). CT scan was used to diagnose 71.48% of patients. We observed a higher prevalence of diabetes mellitus (21.32%), biliary stone disease (19.12%), and smoking history (36.88%) in the study group compared to the general Philippine population. @*Conclusion@#The epidemiology of periampullary malignancies at UP-PGH showed a younger age at presentation and an equal sex ratio compared to published data. Distributions of the primary sites, symptom frequency, and rate of associated comorbidities were consistent with previous findings from the literature.