Surgical management of Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumours: A single centre experience during the past 17 years

BACKGROUND: Gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST) is a rare tumour that can arise anywhere within the gastrointestinal tract. OBJECTIVES: Our objective was to present our experience managing this rare tumour of the gastrointestinal tract. We reviewed the clinico-pathological and morphological features, our experience with surgical treatment, and the outcome GIST in our centre. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The current retrospective analysis included 64 patients with GIST observed between February 1995 and September 2012. RESULTS: There were 39 males and 25 females. The mean age was 63.2 (range 36-83). The GISTs were located in the stomach in the majority of patients (60 patients, 94.0%). The tumour was asymptomatic in 14 (21.9%) patients. The tumour size varied from 0.4 to 25 cm with a mean size of 7.9 cm. Five patients showed peritoneal or liver metastasis at diagnosis. All patients had surgery. Five patients had a R2 resection and in one patient the resection-free margin was uncertain. In our cohort we had 5 patients with metastasis at diagnosis who received adjuvant imatinib. Four patients developed metastasis in the follow-up period. Three patients died due to GIST, three other patients died due to other disease. CONCLUSIONS: Gastric GIST were more common than GIST at other locations. Surgical treatment was the main therapeutic option. Tyosine kinase receptor inhibitors was used as a first line treatment in patients with metastatic GISTs or in patients with recurrence of the disease.