Clinical Symptoms and Treatment Options of Oesophageal Cancer: Study in a Tertiary Level Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Abstract

Background: Oesophageal cancer is cancer that's found anywhere in the oesophagus, sometimes called the gullet or food pipe. The oesophagus connects your mouth to your stomach. How serious oesophageal cancer is, depends on where it is in the oesophagus, how big it is, if it has spread, and your general health. The present study was done to Clinical Symptoms and Treatment Options of Oesophageal Cancer in the tertiary hospital in Bangladesh. Methods: This Descriptive cross-sectional study was done at the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh from August 2015 to February 2016. A total of 50 oesophageal cancer patients between 30-80 years of age attending the Thoracic Surgery Department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital during the last 6 months were included in this study. Exclusion criteria were patients/attendants unwilling to give informed consent to take part in the study and patients with economic constraints to do the necessary investigations. Proper informed consent were taken from the concerns before collecting data. Collected data were classified, edited, coded, and entered into the computer for statistical analysis by using SPSS version 22. Results: Among the 50 cases, the mean age was 52.92 (±10.60) years, the minimum age was 30 years and the maximum age was 80 years. Maximum 76% were male and 24% were female, male: female ratio was 19:6. Regarding treatment options of esophageal cancer, the majority 76% were selected for operative procedure, 10% for chemotherapy, 2% for radiotherapy, and the rest of 12% for palliation. Conclusion: Predominant personal history was smoking, white tobacco chewing, betel nut, betel leaf, and alcohol consumption. Most of the oesophageal cancers were middle and lower third. Majority of the oesophageal cancers were squamous cell carcinoma of different grades. Regarding TNM staging most of the oesophageal cancers were T2 disease.