Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology 5 (2017) 521-525 doi: 10.17265/2328-2150/2017.08.006 Influence of Heavy Metals from the Flooded Areas of Tuzla Canton on the Growth of Stomach Adenocarcinoma Indira Mehmedagić 1 and Mirza Mešić 2 1. Clinic for Surgery, University Clinical Centre Tuzla, Tuzla 75000, Bosnia and Herzegovina 2. Faculty of Medicine, University of Tuzla, Tuzla 75000, Bosnia and Herzegovina Abstract: The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between food contaminated with heavy metals and growing number of stomach adenocarcinoma patients in Tuzla Canton after flooding of the river Spreča catchment area. The scope of work is retrospective and prospective five-year study (2010-2015) of 1,000 patients, who had stomach adenocarcinoma surgery in the department of surgery, University Clinical Centre Tuzla, and answered questions about diet. The patients were predominantly male, aged 60 to 70 (1.5: 1). The data on heavy metal contamination in farmlands in the river catchment area were provided by the Federal Department of Agropedology. The malignity was reported to the department of public health in Tuzla Canton. The results showed an increase in number of patients with stomach adenocarcinoma in the industrially developed municipalities who consumed vegetables contaminated with heavy metals after the floods. The smallest number of patients who underwent stomach adenocarcinoma surgery comes from the municipalities situated out of the flood plain, where farmland was not contaminated. It is concluded that most of the patients having stomach adenocarcinoma came from the municipalities with contaminated agricultural soil. The diet included vegetables, meat, and dairy products. Key words: Stomach adenocarcinoma, diet, contaminated soil. 1. Introduction Gastric cancer remains one of the deadliest diseases with a poor prognosis [1, 2]. Its main cause is the change in eating and life habits [3]. In the area of TK (Tuzla Canton), two studies were performed on patients operated for gastric adenocarcinoma. This cancer type comprises 95% of the total number of tumors of the stomach. From 2005 to 2010, 126 patients underwent the surgery, while in the period from 2010 to 2015, the number of surgical patients was 202. The percentage has increased by 100% as well as the recurrence of gastric cancer [4]. The Federal Department of Agropedology of Bosnia and Herzegovina has found soil contamination by heavy metals in more than 40 locations. Salčinović and his associates conducted a study of soil and plants in the Corresponding author: Indira Mehmedagic, Ph.D., Docent, research fields: surgery. lower reaches of the river Spreča [5]. The increased values of heavy metals: mercury, range from 0.922 mg/kg to 3,653 mg/kg per sample, nickel, whose values range from 67.37 to 136.80 mg/kg, and chromium, ranging from 39.60 to 329.70 mg/kg. High concentrations of PAHs in the soil at the lower reaches of the river Spreča increased up to 30 times. PAH stands for compounds that arise and accumulate in the soil exclusively by industrial action. They have pronounced carcinogenic and genotoxic potential [6-8]. The permissible input value of Pb, Cd, Hg in the human organism with an average weight of 70 kg is: 3 mg of lead, 0.5 mg of cadmium, 0.3 mg of mercury. Maximum levels of metals and non-metals in food must comply with the requirements and regulations of the European Union, the World Health Organization and the Organization for Agriculture and Nutrition (Codex Alimentarius commission WHO/FAO) [9]. D DAVID PUBLISHING