Abstract

This study was conducted to show a more accurate estimate of gastric cancer in Iran and to see which screening approach is the most appropriate. All relevant registered cancer data of Baqiyatollah hospital from 1990 to 2003 were collected in a preformed questionnaire. 1199 (16.1) out of 7450 registered cancers were gastrointestinal (GI) cancer. Among GI cancers, gastric cancer was the most common (458 cases: 38.21). Means ages of patients with GI cancer and gastric cancer were 58.9 +/- 15.4, 60.52 +/- 14.1, years, respectively. Morphologically, the most common gastric cancer was adenocarcinoma, i.e. 91.2. In Conclusion high prevalence of gastric cancer in Iran indicates insufficiency of traditional screening methods which are currently used in this country. In other words, it is the time to screen Iranians just like the Japanese population.