Resumen

VILLEGAS, Carlos Raúl; CHACON, José Arnoby; CARDONA, Juan Paulo  y  CORREA, Luz Ángela. Epidemic clinical profile of cancer patients treated in a third-level clinical institution in Manizales, Colombia, 1995-2004. Colomb. Med. [online]. 2012, vol.43, n.1, pp.11-18. ISSN 1657-9534.

Background: Cancer is being increasingly diagnosed throughout the world, possibly related to increased life expectancy, greater exposure to known carcinogens, increased healthcare coverage, application of screening programs, and active search for cases. In the United States, 1-million new cases are diagnosed with more than 500,000 deaths per year. The costs of attention and work lost are very high. In Colombia, this pathology has behaved in similar manner, constituting a general public health problem. In 2004, in Manizales 653 new cases were diagnosed. Objective: To describe the characteristics of the population with cancer diagnosis treated in the Instituto Oncológico ION SA of Manizales, Caldas, Colombia, since its foundation on March/1995 to December/2004. Materials and methods: Some 5000 patients were treated in the Institution were included from 1995 to 2004. The demographic and clinical variables were analyzed to establish the frequencies of presentation and to know the main aspects of the study given in the Institution and the most important results about the treatment with different therapeutic modalities. Results: Median age of 57 years ±17.3, female (65.6%), urban origin (90.2%). The main occupational category was «Various occupations» (61%) followed by «Technical» (12.1%). The most common diagnoses were breast cancer 18.7%, cervical cancer 13.1%, lymphomas 7.7%, colorectal cancer 6.4%, and gastric cancer 4.7%. Most patients (69.1%) consulted after two months of their first symptoms. The III and IV clinical stages were the most frequent at diagnosis. According to the Karnofsky scale, the functional capacity was good at the beginning of treatment. Therapeutic modalities were surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. The toxicity of the treatments revealed a total frequency of 11.3% (567/5,000). The overall survival at 5 years for men and women was 61.2% and 72.3%, respectively (p<0.05). Conclusions: The clinical and epidemic profile of the patients attended in the ION SA in Manizales, Colombia, does not differ in its general aspect from other cancer studies, other analytic studies must be conducted to determine associations among them to help to best understand the Oncologic phenomenon of our Institution.

Palabras clave : Cancer; Survival; Treatment.

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