Characterization of patients with gastric cancer at the San Rafael de Tunja University Hospital, 2015 – 2020

Abstract

Introduction: Gastric cancer is a public health problem with great impact, which reached 1,090,000 cases and 769,000 deaths in 2020, worldwide; It is the third cause of death from cancer in the world. Objective: Determine the clinical, pathological and sociodemographic characteristics in patients with gastric cancer admitted at Hospital Universitario San Rafael de Tunja, between 2015 and 2020. Materials and methods: observational, descriptive cross-sectional study. From the records of the Hospital Universitario San Rafael de Tunja, there were reviewed medical records of 138 patients, admitted with a diagnosis of gastric carcinoma, in the period 2015 - 2020. Results: mean age 61.7 years, 63.4% men; 52.7% from rural areas; 25% with nutritional deficit due to body mass indexless than 18; 59.4% already had metastases, the most frequent to the Peritoneum, liver and lung; It was only possible to treated surgically in 25.5% of the cases; At the time of evaluation of the medical records, 43.5% of the patients had died. Conclusions: Environmental, cultural and socioeconomic conditions generate favorable scenarios for an increase in the incidence of adenocarcinoma-type gastric cancer, which leads to predicting a progressive increase in them. It is advisable to establish diagnostic and training protocols to enhance early diagnosis, which makes surgery a more effective curative option and improves the prognosis of patients. It would be advisable for a cancer observatory center to be structured at the regional level to carry out epidemiological surveillance and georeferencing of cases to improve monitoring and control conditions.