RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Although many cancers have seen a significant improvement in survival and reduction in morbidity in the past few decades, the same cannot be said about adenocarcinoma stomach. Upfront surgery in non metastatic stomach cancers definitely improves survival. It is well established that any form of adjuvant therapy adds to the improvement in survival, controversy remains if adjuvant chemoradiotherapy is the standard or not. METHODOLOGY: This study is a single arm bidirectional observational study of the stomach cancer patients undergoing adjuvant concurrent chemoradiotherapy with 5 FU (5 Fluorouracil) with an aim to estimate the disease free survival (DFS) and to analyze toxicity patterns. A total of 73 patients with stomach cancer undergoing gastric resection with a curative intent were evaluated. RESULTS: With a median follow up of 16 months, the estimated disease free survival is 31.6 months. Of the 73 patients, recurrences were observed in 33 patients and the most common site was liver metastasis. Except for 2 patients, out of which one expired because of 5 FU induced myocardial infarction and another expired because of neutropenic sepsis during the first cycle of chemotherapy, most of the patients tolerated the regimen well. CONCLUSION: 5 FU based adjuvant CT-RT can be safely given in the Indian population with acceptable survival rates.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Cancers in teenage and young adults (TYAs), though an increasing cause of mortality in our country, have been scarcely studied. The lack of studies of TYAs can significantly affect the outcomes of the youth in the prime of their lives. AIMS: The aim of this study was to study the type of cancers in the TYA at a rural cancer center in central India. DESIGN AND METHODS: A prospective study in the department of medical oncology, from the period of January 2013 till March 2016, was done. Data regarding socioepidemiological factors were collected for new cancer patients between the age group of 15-30 years in semi-structured questionnaire and from the hospital records. Cancers were classified according to the Birch classification. The cases were analyzed according to the epidemiological profile, classification of cancer, and age-wise distribution using descriptive analysis. RESULTS: In this study, out of 5221 cancer patients, TYAs accounted for 327 (6.26%) with 189 males and 138 females (M: F- 1.37:1). The maximum cases were seen in 25-30 years' age group. Carcinoma was the most common malignancy (54.74%) with an increase from 19.56% in the 15-19 years' age group to 64.82% in the 25-30-year-old patients. CONCLUSION: The present study gives a glimpse of the TYA cancers in the central India. More than half of the young cancer patients suffer from carcinomas with about half of these being head and neck cancers.