Background: The most recent study on the clinicopathological features of gastric carcinoma from the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, was done in 2000.
Aim: The aim of this study is to update the knowledge on the clinicopathological features of gastric carcinoma diagnosed in the Pathology Department of the UCH Ibadan between 2000 and 2011
Methods: This was a 12-year retrospective study involving review of clinical and demographic data and the histopathological features of gastric cancers diagnosed at the Pathology Department of the UCH. The student’s chi square test, Fisher’s exact test, and the student’s t independent test (of SPSS version 19) were used as applicable in the statistical analyses.
Results: A total of 117 cases of gastric carcinoma were histologically diagnosed at the Pathology Department of UCH, Ibadan in this period giving a relative ratio frequency of 1.38% for all cancers. It represented 18.4% of all gastrointestinal tract malignancies diagnosed in the same period. There was a male preponderance with male:female ratio of 1.72:1 and the middle-aged and elderly made up about 76.1% of cases. The disease was clinically and histologically advanced in 92.8% of cases. Gastric tumours were predominantly antral/ pyloric in 80% of cases and exophytic in 62.3% cases. The intestinal histotype constituted 46.5% cases although a rise in the diffuse histological type was observed. The female gender was significantly associated with the less differentiated tumours than the male gender.
Conclusions: There is a decline in the relative ratio frequency of gastric carcinoma in Ibadan. There is also a fall in the rate of the intestinal type of gastric carcinoma relative to the diffuse type when compared to previous studies from our centre.