Introduction:

Gastric cancer is one of the most common causes of death worldwide, with a varying incidence. In Ecuador, it is the second leading cause of death in men and the fourth in women.

Objectives:

To establish the socio-demographic, clinical, histological, and endoscopic characteristics of patients with gastric cancer and to determine the correlation between location and histology in this population treated at the Hospital de Especialidades Guayaquil Dr. Abel Gilbert Pontón.

Materials and methods:

Analytical and prospective prevalence study. Outpatient and emergency upper gastrointestinal endoscopies with signs of suspected gastric cancer performed at the Hospital de Especialidades Guayaquil Dr. Abel Gilbert Pontón - Ecuador between January 2018 through December 2019 were included.

Results:

The study included 62 patients diagnosed with gastric adenocarcinoma. 72.6% were male and 27.4% were female; the age range was between 27 and 95 years, with an average of 60.96 ± 15.1 years, the age of onset being between 60 and 70 years. Pain was the most frequent symptom in 98.4% of cases, followed by weight loss in 64.5%. The antrum was the most common site of cancer (50.0%), and Borrmann type III was the most common morphology. Intestinal cancer was found in 64.5% of cases, while diffuse gastric cancer was found in 29.0%. Intestinal cancer was more common in older ages (60-69%) and the most frequent site of presentation was the body of the stomach (71.4%) with a proximal location. In contrast, diffuse gastric cancer was more frequent in younger patients aged between 27-39 years, more often in the antrum (32.3%) at a more distal location.

Conclusions:

Gastric cancer is more often found in men and is usually diagnosed in advanced stages. Intestinal gastric cancer was most commonly seen at advanced ages in our hospital, most frequently at the proximal site and in the Borrmann type III according to the classification of advanced gastric cancer, affecting its treatment and prognosis. The results obtained support the implementation of programs to diagnose and treat this severe disease in a timely manner.

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