Gastric Cancer in Bahrain: A Retrospective Study of Histologically Confirmed Tumours between 2001 and 2007 from the Two Main Bahraini Referral Hospitals

Bedoor Al Omran, Naseem Ansari^*

Department of Pathology, RCSI Bahrain, Busaiteen, Kingdom of Bahrain.

DOI: 10.4236/ojpathology.2015.54018                

Abstract

Objective: Few data are available describing the epidemiology and pathology of stomach cancer in Bahrain. Methods: A retrospective study examining all histologically confirmed cases of gastric cancer at the two main referral hospitals in Bahrain during the period 2001-2007. Results: 116 cases of gastric cancer were histologically confirmed in this seven-year period. There were 94 cases (81%) of adenocarcinoma, 10 (8.6%) lymphoma, 7 (6.0%) gastrointestinal stromal tumour, and 5 (4.3%) neuroendocrine tumour. Of the 94 patients with adenocarcinoma 65 (69.1%) were male (p < 0.01). 24 out of 43 intestinal type adenocarcinomas were positive for intestinal metaplasia (p < 0.001). Between 2004 and 2006 when total annual numbers of gastric cancers overall and gastric adenocarcinoma decreased the total numbers of lymphoma increased. Conclusions: The most common type of gastric cancer in Bahrain is adenocarcinoma. There was a reduction in gastric cancers overall and adenocarcinoma during the middle two years of the study, and possible explanations for this were suggested. An association between intestinal metaplasia and intestinal subtype gastric adenocarcinoma was confirmed. The non-carcinoma gastric tumours in Bahrain comprise a small proportion of all gastric tumours and include lymphoma, neuroendocrine tumours and gastrointestinal stromal tumours.

Keywords

Gastric Cancer, Adenocarcinoma, Helicobacter pylori, Intestinal Metaplasia, Lymphoma, Epidemiology, Pathology

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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