Characterization of Patients Operated on for Esophageal Cancer in Cuba

Abstract

Introduction: Cancer in Cuba is a serious health concern due to its high incidence and mortality rates. It represents the first cause of years of life potentially lost and. Esophageal cancer is rare, but its behavior is more aggressive and its survival rate is low.

Objective: To characterize patients operated on for esophageal cancer in Cuba in the period from 1988 to 2020.

Methods: A nonrandomized, multicenter, clinical-epidemiological and observational research was carried out in the period from 1988 to 2020. The universe and the sample consisted of 595 patients from nine hospital institutions. Some of the variables studied included sex, age, histological variety, surgical intervention performed, and presence of associated comorbidities.

Results: There was a predominance of the male sex (66.1%). The average age was 62.8 years. Hypoproteinemia was present in 46.1%. 43.2% of patients were smokers and 35.8% drank alcoholic beverages. Epidermoid was the most frequent histological variety (64.6%). The most widely used surgical techniques were Ivor Lewis (68.4%) and transhiatal (63.6%) esophagectomies. There was a predominance of one-plane, termino-lateral anastomosis of thoracic location for epidermoid cases (68.4%) and the cervical one for adenocarcinoma cases (71.4%), performed manually on the posterior face.

Conclusion: Esophageal cancer prevailed in men over 55 years of age, smokers and with hypoproteinemia. The most used surgical techniques were Ivor Lewis and transhiatal esophagectomies.

Keywords: esophageal cancer; esophagectomy; anastomosis.