Iraqi Postgraduate Medical Journal

Current Issue

By Issue

By Author

By Subject

Author Index

Keyword Index

Copyrights and Licensing

Home

About Journal

Aim and Scope

Editorial Board

Peer Review Process

Copyrights and Licensing

Indexing and Abstracting

Plagiarism Policy

Author's Guide

Article processing charge (APC)

Cancer of Unknown Primary Origin: Incidence Trend and Athological Features, Iraq, 2005-2019

    Authors

    1 Al-Zahraa Primary Health Care Center, Baghdad, Iraq

    2 College of Medicine, University of Baghdad, Iraq

    3 National Cancer Research Center, University of Baghdad, Iraq

,

Document Type : Review Article

Abstract

BACKGROUND:
Cancer of unknown primary origin is an obscure group of diagnoses in which the primary anatomical site of tumor origin is not specified.
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine the trend of cancer of unknown primary origin in Iraq in the period from 2005 to 2019 at the national and governorate level and its pathological characteristics.
METHODS:
The data was compiled from the cancer registry of Iraq for the period 2005-2019 and from Al Amal Cancer Hospital for the period 2010-2019. Data included information on gender, age, geographical distribution, site of metastasis, and histology types.
RESULTS:
A total of 9,593 cases of CUP were registered in the cancer registry for the period 2005-2019.                 The total number of registered patients in Al Amal Cancer Hospital between 2010- 2019 was 1,698. The incidence of cancer of unknown primary origin demonstrated a convergence during 2005-2019 with an average of 1.88/100,000. There was a slight increase in incidence through 2006 (2.6/100,000) and 2007 (2.4/100,000) for both sexes. The majority of reported cases were in the age group 56-65 (31.5%) and males constituted 53.9% of all the cases. The commonest metastatic sites were lymph nodes (18%) and the liver (16%). Adenocarcinoma constituted 55.9% of cases.
CONCLUSION:
Iraq is considered a country with a low incidence of cancer of unknown primary origin.                          The diagnosis and treatment of cancer of unknown primary origin are challenging due to its late presentation, difficulty in diagnosis and the treatment choices offered are limited and non-selective.
 

Keywords

References
  1. 2020 ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Code C80.1Malignant (primary) neoplasm, unspecified https://www.icd10data.com/ICD10CM/Codes/C00-D49/C76-C80/C80-/C80.1.
  2. Pavlidis N, Fizazi K. Carcinoma of unknown primary (CUP). Critical reviews in oncology/hematology. 2009 ;69:271-8.
  3. Jones, W., Allardice, G., Scott, I., Oien, K., Brewster, D., & Morrison, D. S.. Cancers of unknown primary diagnosed during hospitalization: a population-based study. BMC Cancer, 2017;17: 85.
  4. Dyrvig, A. K., Yderstræde, K. B., Gerke, O., Jensen, P. B., Hess, S., Høilund-Carlsen, P. F., & Green, A.. Cancer of unknown primary: Registered procedures compared with national integrated cancer pathway for illuminating external validity. Medicine, 2017;96: e6693.
  5. The Netherlands Cancer Registry; 2015. https://www.iknl.nl/nkr-cijfers. Accessed?
  6. Cancer Research UK. http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/statistics-by-cancer-type/cancer-of-unknown-primary/incidence. Accessed?
  7. Fizazi K, Greco FA, Pavlidis N, Pentheroudakis G; ESMO Guidelines Working Group. Cancers of unknown primary site: ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines for diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up. Ann Oncol 2011;22 Suppl 6:vi64–vi68.
  8. Kaizu H, Ogino I, Hata M, et al. Chemoradiation as a definitive treatment for cervical lymph node metastases from unknown primary cancer. Anticancer Res 2013; 33:5187–92.
  9. American cancer society 2020 https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-unknown-primary.html. Accessed?
  10. Mahmood RI, Aldehaim M, Hussain F, Elhassan TA, Khan ZA, Memon MA. Carcinoma of unknown primary: 35 years of single institution`s experience. Cancer Translational Medicine. 2016 ; 2:113.
  11. Qaseem, A., Usman, N., Jayaraj, J. S., Janapala, R. N., & Kashif, T. Cancer of Unknown Primary: A Review on Clinical Guidelines in the Development and Targeted Management of Patients with the Unknown Primary Site. Cureus, 2019;11: e5552.
  12. Conway, A. M., Mitchell, C., Kilgour, E., Brady, G., Dive, C., & Cook, N. Molecular characterization and liquid biomarkers in Carcinoma of Unknown Primary (CUP): taking the ‘U’out of ‘CUP’. British journal of cancer, 2019;120:41.
  13. Fizazi, K., Greco, F. A., Pavlidis, N., Daugaard, G., Oien, K., & Pentheroudakis, G.. Cancers of unknown primary site: ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines for diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up. Annals of Oncology, 2015;26(suppl_5), v133-38.‏
  14. Pavlidis N, Khaled H, Gaafar R. A mini review on cancer of unknown primary site: a clinical puzzle for the oncologists. Journal of advanced research. 2015;6:375-82.
  15. Hemminki K, Bevier M, Hemminki A, Sundquist J. Survival in cancer of unknown primary site: population-based analysis by site and histology. Annals of oncology. 2011;23:1854-63.
  16. Pavlidis N, Pentheroudakis G. Cancer of unknown primary site. The Lancet. 2012 ;379:1428-35.
  17. Vajdic CM, Goldstien D. Cancer of unknown primary site. Australian family physicians. 2015;44:640.
  18. Jung KW, Won YJ, Kong HJ, Lee ES. Cancer statistics in Korea: incidence, mortality, survival, and prevalence in 2015. Cancer research and treatment: official journal of Korean Cancer Association. 2018.
  19. Randen M, Rutqvist LE, Johansson H. Cancer patients without a known primary: incidence and survival trends in Sweden 1960_2007. Acta Oncologica. 2009; 48:915-20.
  20. Rassy E, Pavlidis N. The currently declining incidence of cancer of unknown primary. Cancer 2019; 61: 139-41. 
  21. Annual Report. Iraqi Cancer Registry 2019. Iraqi Cancer Board, Ministry of Health, Iraq, 2021.
  22. Worldmeter, Iraq demographics. https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/iraq-demographics/#life-exp
  23. Skelton M; Alameddine R, Saifi O, Hammoud M, Zorkot M, Daher M, et al. High-Cost Cancer Treatment Across Borders in Conflict Zones: Experience of Iraqi Patients in Lebanon. JCO Glob Oncol. 2020; 6: JGO.19.00281.
  24. Vajdic C M, Perez-Concha O, Dobbins T, R L Ward R L, A L Schaffer A L, van Leeuwen MT, Rhee JJ, Laaksonen MA, Craigen G, Pearson SA. Demographic, social and lifestyle risk factors for cancer registry-notified cancer of unknown primary site (CUP). Cancer Epidemiol. 2019; 60:156-61.
  25. Kaaks R, Sookthai D, Hemminiki K, Kramer A, Boeing H, Wirfalt E, Weiderpass E, Overvad K, Tjonneland A, Olsen A, Peeters PH. Risk factors for cancers of unknown primary site: results from the prospective EPIC cohort. International journal of cancer. 2014; 135:2475-81.
  26. Varadhachary GR, Raber MN. Cancer of unknown primary site. New England Journal of Medicine. 2014;371:757-65.
  27. Lu MY, Chen TY, Williamson DFK, Zhao M, Shady M, Lipkova J, Mahmood F. AI-based pathology predicts origins for cancers of unknown primary. Nature. 2021; 594:106-10.
  28. Shelleh HH, Depleted Uranium. Is it potentially involved in the recent upsurge of malignancies in populations exposed to war dust? Saudi Med J.2012;33: 483-88.
  29. StrandLA, Jan Ivar Martinsen JI, Borud A 5-Year Continued Follow-up of Cancer Risk and All-Cause Mortality Among Norwegian Military Peacekeepers Deployed to Kosovo During 1999-2016. Mil Med. 2020;185: e239-e243.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Iraqi Postgraduate Medical Journal
Volume 22, Issue 4
October 2023
Page 448-454
Files
Share
Export Citation
Statistics