Journal Press India^®

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The Kashmir Valley, home to some 8 million people in a Himalayan basin, has historically been known for its unique cancer profile—an anomaly in South Asia with stomach, esophageal, lung and breast cancer rates three to six times higher than the national average in India. Using data available only in the Sher-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Hospital-Based Cancer Registry reports, ICMR's National Cancer Registry Programme (NCRP) estimates, Union Health Ministry disclosures, Right-to-Information (RTI) documents, J&K Legislative Assembly replies, and over two dozen peer-reviewed papers, this review outlines a 40-year history of cancer in the valley. The evidence points to a grim reality: more than 66,000 cancer cases were registered at SKIMS Soura alone from 2014 to 2025, with the number increasing from 3,940 in 2014 to 5,791 in 2025—a 47% rise in just over a decade. This review amalgamates the epidemiological and etiological evidence, district-specific hotspots, molecular characteristics, and infrastructural deficits that collectively constitute the "cancer epidemic" in Kashmir. Concurrently, the number of PET scans performed at the SKIMS increased from 1,410 in 2024 to 2,250 in 2025, a 60% increase over a 12-month period that reflects growing diagnostic capacity to detect cases that were previously unrecognized.

Keywords

Esophageal, South Asia, SKIMS, Union Health Ministry, Epidemiological, PET Scans, Environmental Carcinogenesis

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