Gastric cancer in the Arab World: a systematic review
Aoude, M (通讯作者),St Joseph Univ Beirut, Hotel Dieu France Hosp, Dept Hematol Oncol, Riad El Solh, Lebanon.
Background: Gastric cancer (GC) is the fourth most common cancer worldwide, characterized by multifactorial patho-genesis and a heterogeneous geographic distribution. The complexity of this malignancy has evolved, with environmental and genetic factors and treatment strategies being more studied. Aims: We aimed to group and organize the clinicopathological and epidemiological features of GC in the Arab World and compare with data from Western countries. Methods: To obtain the highest number of topic-related articles, an extensive electronic search was conducted in the PubMed MEDLINE and Cochrane databases up to March 2022 using Boolean operators with a combination of keywords and MeSH terms. A total of 42 articles were retained after screening in accordance with the objectives of the study. The estimated age-standardized incidence rates in the Arab World were collected from the GLOBOCAN 2020 database. Results: A total of 46 articles were retrieved from 11 countries in the Arab World. Epidemiological elements were collect-ed, especially tumour attributes, risk factors and population characteristics, in addition to some therapeutic strategies. Results were regrouped by theme and then organized in tables and charts, allowing a global and regional approach to the subject. Conclusion: This review shows that the Arab World is considered a low-rate GC incidence region, presenting almost the same tumour characteristics as the Western countries. The lack of GC data in the Arab World should trigger a rise in re-search on this type of malignancy to better understand the subject.