Background and purpose: Northern Iran has a high incidence for squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of esophagus, therefore, studying esophageal SCC in different regions of Iran could prepare data for evidence-based and cost effective programs. This study aimed to evaluate esophageal carcinoma in Babol, Northern Iran during 8 years.

Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in all patients underwent upper endoscopy during 2005-2013 in Babol Shahid Beheshti Hospital. Demographic, endoscopic and pathologic features were analyzed in SPSS V16 and P<0.05 was declared as significant.

Results: A total of 8963 patients underwent endoscopy of whom 148 (1.65%) were diagnosed with esophageal carcinoma, including 92 male (61.75%) and 56 female (37.8%). The patients’ mean age was 71±11.6 years (ranging from 38 to 91 years of age). Ten patients (14.8%) and 138 patients (85.2%) were diagnosed with esophageal adenocarcinoma and SCC, respectively. Locations of tumors were determined in upper (31.6%), middle (19.6%), and lower (43%) parts of esophagus.

Conclusion: Dysphagia was the most common symptom and lower part of esophagus was the most common site for carcinoma. In this study, there was no gender significance in the incidence of esophageal carcinoma and the number of male and female patients were almost similar. Also, there was no correlation between smoking and opium and esophageal carcinoma which should be investigated in further studies.