Metastatic potential of gastric leiomyosarcoma

Metastatic and lethal gastric leiomyosarcoma in 12 of 30 surgically treated cases was found most closely correlated with larger size tumors. A highly statistically significant correlation (p less than 0.0001) between tumor diameter and success or failure of surgical extirpation was demonstrated for the total of 241 gastric leiomyosarcomas in the present series and collected from the literature. Six other gross and microscopic attributes analyzed, including mitotic counts, did not provide equally useful prognostic indications. Inadequate sampling may be responsible for lack of correlation between histological criteria and tumor progression.