Hospital-Based Descriptive Analysis of Surgically Treated Malignancies: A Single Center Four-Year Experience

Abstract

Objective: To describe the institutional pattern of histologically confirmed malignancies managed surgically at a tertiary care hospital in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), Pakistan, and to identify the need for structured cancer surveillance in the region.
Study Design: Retrospective record-based descriptive analysis.
Place and Duration of Study: Department of General Surgery, Shaheed Saif ur Rehman Government Teaching Hospital, Gilgit, 1st January 2021 – 31st December 2024.
Materials and Methods: Records of patients with confirmed malignant tumors treated surgically during the study period were reviewed. Tumor sites were classified using ICD-10 codes and histological diagnoses verified from pathology reports. Descriptive statistics were applied to summarize demographic and tumor characteristics. Association between gender and tumor site was analyzed using the Chi-square test.
Results: One hundred twenty-one surgically managed malignancies were included (mean age 52.4 ± 14.8 years; male-to-female ratio 1.05:1). The most frequent tumor sites were stomach (18.1%), skin (15.7%), retroperitoneum/peritoneum (15.7%), colorectal (9%), breast (9%), and ovary (8.2%). Gastrointestinal malignancies collectively constituted 35.3% of cases. Adenocarcinoma was the predominant histological subtype in gastrointestinal cancers. The annual number of cases treated increased over the four-year period, reflecting expanding surgical capacity.
Conclusion: These findings represent hospital-based case distribution rather than population-level incidence. Establishment of a regional cancer registry is essential to generate reliable epidemiological data for health planning in Gilgit-Baltistan.