An adenocarcinoma making up 0.35% of all gastrointestinal tumors.
Mean age at diagnosis is 77 years.
It is a rare malignancy that originates in the duodenum, the first part of the small intestine.
The most common histological type is adenocarcinoma, which accounts for the majority of cases.
The incidence of true primary duodenal carcinoma is approximately 5.4 per 1,000,000 individuals, with a higher prevalence in older adults.
The prognosis for duodenal cancer is generally poor.
Curative resection, such as pancreaticoduodenectomy (Whipple procedure), is the primary treatment and offers the best chance for long-term survival.
However, only a minority of patients are candidates for curative surgery due to advanced disease at presentation.
Lymph node involvement is a critical prognostic factor.
Adjuvant therapies, including chemotherapy and radiation, have not consistently shown a survival benefit.
In patients with familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP), the risk of developing duodenal cancer is significantly elevated.