Introduction:

Cancer is one of the main causes of mortality and morbidity in the world. Gastrointestinal tract cancers constitute an important health burden worldwide due to its high prevalence, the mortality rates and the consequent economic burden. It is important to know the clinical characteristic aspects in our environment and the experience with the management of these neoplasms, in order to have a base to analyze tendencies and results.

Materials and methods:

A descriptive, retrospective, and an observation-based study was carried out including women and men of ages between 15 and 50 years diagnosed as digestive tube cancer at the San Jose University Hospital in of Popayan, Colombia, in the period between 2010 and 2015.

Results:

Among the 41 patients included in the study, 65.9% (n=27) were men. The average age at the time of diagnosis was 41, presenting since the age of 26. Cancer was gastric in 22% (n=27), colorectal in 12.2% (n=13), and esophageal in 2.4 % (n=1). The nutritional status was compromised mainly in patients with basal-cell carcinoma of the esophagus. Gastric cancer was diagnosed in stage IV in 65% of the patients. The best survival was registered in colon cancer that underwent surgery.

Discussion:

The male gender appeared to be mostly affected by gastrointestinal tract cancer, the age of appearance being higher than in other studies. Gastric cancer was most predominant and with the worst prognosis, similar to what appears described in other studies. The advanced stage can be explained by the tardiness of the medical consultation and the intrinsic aggressiveness of the tumor.

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