Aims and Objective: Gastrointestinal malignancies are among the most lethal
of all malignancies and are equally notorious for rapidly progressing to advanced
stages even in the absence of serious symptoms, thus leading to delayed diagnoses
and dismal prognoses. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence, type,
pattern and the histologic characteristics of upper gastrointestinal tumors seen
in patients who underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy at the Ekiti State University
Teaching Hospital, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: This was a three year
cross-sectional study involving 78 patients with suspected upper gastrointestinal
tumor referred for upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. The study was conducted from
January 2011 to December 2013 at the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital (EKSUTH),
Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria. Relevant clinical information such as age, gender, clinical
presentations, smoking history, alcohol use, spices, and consumption of opiates
were obtained from the patients. Tissue biopsies were taken from the suspected lesions
for histological confirmation and characterization. An ethical clearance for this
study was obtained from the EKSUTH Ethical and Research committee and all the patients
gave written consent for the study. SPSS version 15.0 (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, Illinois,
USA) was applied for statistical analysis using the t-test for quantitative variables
and χ2 test for qualitative variables. Differences were considered to
be statistically significant if P value was less than 0.05. Results: Seventy eight
patients were enrolled into this study comprising 22 females and 56 males. The mean
age of the population was 55.75 ± 7.20 years. The presenting symptoms were; abdominal
mass in 30.8%, abdominal pain in 29.5%, weight loss in 20.5%, dysphagia in 6.4%,
haematemesis in 5.1%, melaena in 5.1% and anaemia in 2.6% of the patients. The risk
factors identified in the study included; tobacco use or smoking in 25.6%, alcohol
in 19.2%, spices in 14.1%, opiates in 3.8% and combination of the above risk factors
in 37.2%. 67.9% of the tumors were located in the stomach, 16.7% in the oesophagus
and 15.4% in the first part of the duodenum. Of those located in the stomach, 62.3%
were in the antrum while 37.7% were in the corpus. Of the oesophageal tumors, 61.5%
were in the mid oesophagus, 30.8% were in the lower oesophagus and 7.8% in the upper
oesophagus. Tissue histology showed 70.5% were adenocarcinoma,
26.9% were squamous cell carcinoma, 1.3% lymphoma and 1.3% malignant polyp. This
was statistically significant p =<
0.05. Conclusion: In view of the fact that upper GI tumors can rapidly progress
to advanced stages in the absence of serious symptoms, gastroduodenoscopy is advocated
in patients with signs and symptoms of dyspepsia to avoid delayed diagnosis and
improve the disease outcome.