Surgical management of gastrointestinal stromal tumours: a single centre experience during the past 17 years

Gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST) is a rare tumour that can arise anywhere within the gastrointestinal tract.

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.

The current retrospective analysis included 64 patients with GIST observed between February 1995 and September 2012.

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.

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.