Prevalence of Gastrointestinal Tumors in Babol’s Hospitals from 2010 to 2020

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are the most common gastrointestinal mesenchymal neoplasms. The risk factors for GISTs are older age and inherited genetic syndromes. Moreover, lifestyle-related or environmental causes of GISTs are unknown, and due to the lack of a similar study in the Babol region, we decided to investigate the frequency of GISTs in hospitals in Babol.

The present study is a cross-sectional study performed on 30 cases of GISTs in the pathology archive of hospitals in Babol from March 21, 2010, to March 20, 2021. Patients’ information such as age, sex, family history, smoking, and clinical signs were evaluated.

In this study, the prevalence of GISTs was 5.81 per thousand. 16 (53.3%) patients were in the group of less than 57-year-olds, and 14 (46.7%) patients were aged more than 57 years. 18 (60%) patients were males and 12 (40%) were females. The stomach was the most common site of the stromal tumor, with a frequency of 16 (53.3%) cases. While the second and third categories were the esophagus with 10 (33.4%) cases and the intestine with 4 (13.3%) cases, respectively. Abdominal pain in 17 (56.7%) patients with stromal tumors was reported as the most common symptom.

This study showed that the frequency of GISTs was similar to the results of studies inside and outside Iran. In addition, the prevalence of stromal tumors in the 50s and men was similar to other studies.