[Cancer of the esophagus in the department of Côte-d'Or].

The registry of digestive tract tumors established for the department of Côte-d' Or was used to study the incidence and characteristics of oesophageal cancer in the area. The crude annual incidence rate was 15.5/100,000 for males, ans 1.1/100,000 for females. The corresponding age standardized rate (world standard) were 12.7 and 0.6. The sex ratio was 21.2. As compared to other cancer registries the Côte-d' Or is in intermediate range for males, in the low range for females. The incidence of oesophageal cancer was similar in urban and rural areas. The risk of oesophageal cancer in males was five times higher in workers than in high executives and professionals. There was no significant variation in oesophageal cancer incidence over the 8 years of the study. Rates tended to decrease slightly in both sexes. Most cancers were squamous cell carcinomas (92%). Adenocarcinomas represented 5% of the cases. The risk of an associated tumour of the upper respiratory and digestive tract was important (17.5%). Only 10.4% of the patients underwent curative surgery, while 53.4% were referred for radiotherapy alone. The overall 1-year survival rate was 18.4%, and the 5-year survival rate was 2.8%. The 5-year survival rate was 7.2% after curative surgery, and 3.2% after radiotherapy. These results underline the fact that the prognosis of oesophageal cancer in a well defined population where only one patient out of ten can benefit from curative surgery, remains poor.