Background: Imatinib has changed the treatment of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs). Preoperative imatinib treatment can be administered to patients with locally advanced disease to reduce the risk of incomplete resection, tumor spill, and lessen the extent of resection. In metastatic GIST, surgery follows imatinib in responding patients with resectable disease. In this study, the outcome of surgically treated patients with a gastric GIST with and without preoperative imatinib was investigated.
Methods: Patients surgically treated for a gastric GIST at our institute between 1999 and 2011 were included. Patient data were retrieved from a prospectively maintained database.
Results: A consecutive series of 47 patients was identified: 17 patients were treated with primary surgery (group 1) and 30 patients received imatinib before surgery (group 2). Preoperative imatinib led to a 33% reduction in tumor size. All patients in group 1 and 23 patients (77%) in group 2 had a complete resection (R0) without tumor spill. At a median follow-up of 30 months, 4 patients in group 2 had died of GIST. In these 4 patients, either the resection had been irradical or tumor spill had occurred, and 3 of them had radiologic progressive disease at the time of surgery.
Conclusions: In this surgical series of gastric GIST patients, preoperative imatinib led to a major reduction in tumor size. Irradical resection, tumor spill, and progressive disease at the time of surgery were associated with poor prognosis.