Cancer in Afghanistan

In the 2 1/2 years ending in March 1968, a Tumor Registry in Afghanistan collected 895 benign and malignant neoplasms diagnosed histologically from surgical specimens. This report presents the relative frequency of these tumors. Comparative data from Iran, Pakistan and Sweden are also given. The major sites of cancer in Afghans were at accessible locations: skin, lymphoid and hematopoietic systems, soft tissues, eye, breast and testis. At the deeper sites, cancers were most frequent in the stomach, the esophagus and the ovary. Cancers of the mouth and the uterine cervix were of low relative frequency. This is an important finding, because certain conditions exist in Afghanistan that are usually associated with higher frequencies of these tumors.