[Epidemiological, clinical, histological and therapeutic features of primary digestive cancers in Burkina Faso].

Objective: To study the epidemiology and histology of primary digestive cancers in semi-urban areas in Burkina Faso.

Methods: This was a descriptive study over 5 years conducted simultaneously in 2 regional hospitals in Burkina Faso. It included all patients treated for primary digestive cancers.

Results: A total of 352 were included. The average age of the patients was 44.3 years. Patients aged between 30 and 49 years accounted for 44.6%. There were 175 male patients (49.7%). In the patient's history, we found 6 cases of ulcerative colitis, 2 cases of colonic adenoma, and 5 cases of hepatic cirrhosis. The average consultation time was 138 days. In 70 cases (19.9%), the cancer was discovered at a stage of complication. The most affected organs were the colon and rectum (36.7%), the stomach (21.9%) and the pancreas (19.0%). The most common histological type of cancer was adenocarcinoma (67.6%). One hundred and forty-four patients (40.9%) were diagnosed at stage 3 and 65 others (18.5%) at stage 4 of TMN staging. Therapeutically, surgery was used in 307 patients (87.2%) and chemotherapy in 63 cases (17.9%). The one-year mortality rate was 29%.

Conclusion: In Burkina Faso rural area, primary digestive cancers occur in young patients with no predominance of sex. Colorectal cancer remains the most common.