[A rare cancer: cancers of the small intestine. 25 cases diagnosed at the Institut Pasteur de Madagascar from 1992 to 2001].

A retrospective survey of cases of cancer of the small intestine observed in the Institut Pasteur de Madagascar (IPM), in the Centre Hospitalier de Soavinandriana (CenHoSoa) and in the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire d'Antananarivo/Hôpital Joseph Ravoahangy Andrianavalona (CHUA/HJRA), has been undertaken with the goal to find out epidemiological and diagnostical particularities, as well as the therapeutic measures and their results. Only 25 cases have been found in 10 years (from 1992 to 2001). They represent 5.4% of the digestive cancers diagnosed by the Institut Pasteur de Madagascar. They concern 14 women and 11 men with a mean age of 36 years old at the time of diagnosis. The motive of hospitalization was an acute abdomen (peritonitis, perforation, occlusive syndrome, König's syndrome) in 64.3%, and a chronic abdominal pain often associated with abdominal mass in 35.7%. The duodenum is the predilection seat of the small bowel cancers (50%), followed by the ileum (25%) and the jejunum (10%). A diffuse shape has been observed in 15% of the cases. The most frequent histological type is the lymphoma (40%) followed by the adenocarcinoma (32%).