Prevalence of various cancers in a rural setting in India –Karaikal

Introduction: To study the prevalence of various cancer in a rural setting and to study the distribution of various cancers among diverse age and sex groups. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted on 200 subjects who were diagnosed to have malignancy by histopathology in Vinayaka Missions Research Foundation Karaikal Pondicherry District. The prevalence of various cancers was evaluated and further correlated with age and sex of the patient. Results: The study enrolled 200 malignant cases with age ranging from 13yrs to 85 years. 54% were female and 46% were male. Out of 200 cases 40 cases that is 20% of malignant cases were there in oral cavity buccal mucosa. Next comes breast accounting for 17%, followed by colon and rectum – 9.5%. Regarding type of malignancy, squamous cell carcinoma is the most common malignancy 35% followed by adenocarcinoma 17.5% and infiltrating duct carcinoma- 15%. Below 18 years malignancy is reported only in thyroid and soft tissues. Maximum number of malignant cases were reported in age group 40-60years (87 cases). Conclusion: Our study shows increase in incidence of cancer in Karaikal which was only 26 in year 2001-2002. Now in 2016-2017 it was 200. Also the organs affected shows slight variation from Indian scenario where lung is the most common malignancy. But in our study oral cancers are maximum. This study highlights the need for cancer screening programs to be individualised for regions and the importance of maintaining cancer registries.