Current Trends of Carcinoma: Experience of a Tertiary Care Cancer Center in North India

Abstract

Objective Cancer incidence across the geographical area is mercurial and factors like dietary habits, environment, social structure, genetics govern relative incidence. Malwa region of Punjab is one such geographical area of India speculated to have a higher incidence of cancer. The current analysis was done to assess the occurrence of cancer in the region and to analyze the trends and types of carcinoma with age, gender, site, and histopathological type, and to compare with the trends mentioned in the literature. Methods A retrospective analysis was done to collect and collate 2088 cancer patients' pathological records for three years at a tertiary treatment center. The collated data was digitized and used to create tables and histograms. Result Of the 2088 cancer cases, the leading cancer site was breast (24.7%) in females, followed by cancer of female genetic tract (18.9%), whereas in males, the most common site involved was head and neck (17.5%) followed by esophagus (10.3%). The leading cancer type for males was squamous cell carcinoma and for females was infiltrating ductal cell carcinoma. Breast carcinoma was most commonly seen cancer (40.5%) followed by female genital tract carcinoma and esophageal carcinoma in female patients. Whereas in males, head and neck carcinoma was most commonly identified (37.5%) followed by the gastrointestinal tract and esophageal carcinoma. This higher incidence may be attributed to better medical facilities, cancer awareness, and novel government schemes. Conclusion Based on our comprehensive analysis, we conclude that there was a change in trends of all types of carcinomas in males and females except breast carcinoma, which was seen as the most common carcinoma in female patients. Our findings suggest and support the strong implementation of cancer awareness programs and epidemiological studies to know the changing trends of risk factors in the region.

Keywords: carcinoma; esophagus; head and neck tumors; histopathological profile; incidence.

Figure 1. Age-wise distribution of various histopathological broad subtypes

Figure 2. [A] Overall age- and gender-wise distribution of cancer patients, [B] Age-wise incidence of cancer in males, [C] Age-wise incidence of cancer in females

Figure 3. [A] Overall most prevalent cancers, [B] Most prevalent cancer in males, [C] Most prevalent cancer in females