All cases of adenocarcinoma in the duodenum (n = 263) and jejunum/ileum (n = 663), diagnosed between 1960 and 1988, were recruited from the Swedish Cancer Registry. Corrected and overall survival were investigated by sex, age and year of diagnosis with life-table and Cox proportional hazards analyses. The corrected 5- and 10-year survival rates were 39% and 37% for duodenal tumours and 46% and 41% for those in jejunum/ileum (P = 0.16 for difference between sites). The corrected 5- and 10-year survival rates were 52% and 48% for women and 40% and 34% for men with tumours in jejunum/ileum (P = 0.0095 for difference by sex) while no such relation was found in duodenal tumours (P = 0.84). Survival correlated with age at diagnosis for duodenal tumours (P = 0.03377). A Cox proportional hazards analysis revealed a temporal trend with more favourable prognosis in recent years. This study confirms that prognosis of small bowel adenocarcinoma is serious, but gives a more optimistic outlook than many hitherto published series.
