Occurrence of other malignancies in patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors

Almost one-third of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are discovered incidentally during investigative or therapeutic procedures for unrelated diseases. In this regard, GISTs may coexist with different types of cancer, either synchronously or metachronously. The frequency of this association and the spectrum of neoplasms involved have not been sufficiently analyzed. We conducted a review of the literature and our own records for cases with sporadic GISTs and other malignancies, with emphasis on solid tumors. Neurofibromatosis 1 and Carney triad-associated tumors were excluded. Based on these data, there were 518 cancers in 486 GIST patients among 4813 cases with informative data. The overall frequency of second tumors in different series varied from 4.5% to 33% (mean, 13%). A total of 29 patients had multiple malignancies. GISTs of gastric location were most commonly involved with other neoplasms, reflecting their overall high frequency (60%) of all GISTs. The major types of GIST-associated cancers were gastrointestinal carcinomas (n=228; 47%), lymphoma/leukemia, (n=36; 7%), and carcinomas of prostate (n=43; 9%), breast (n=34; 7%), kidney (n=27; 6%), lung (n=26; 5%), female genital tract (n=25; 5%), and carcinoid tumors (n=13; 3%). Other cancers included soft tissue and bone sarcomas (n=15; 3%), malignant melanoma (n=12; 2%), and seminoma (n=6; 1%). Occurrence of collision tumors and metastases of carcinoma or sarcoma into a GIST (the latter noted in 4 cases) can be challenging diagnostic problems. The potential nonrandom association and causal relationship between GIST and other neoplasms remain to be investigated.