Clinical Significance of the Glasgow Prognostic Score in Patients with Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors

Aim: To assess the clinical utility of the Glasgow prognostic score (GPS) as a blood predictor of postoperative recurrence in patients with gastric gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs).

Patients and methods: Twenty-nine patients with gastric GISTs undergoing gastrectomy were retrospectively reviewed. Patients were classified based on GPS criteria as follows: GPS of 2: elevated C-reactive protein (>1.0 mg/dl) and hypoalbuminemia (<3.5 g/dl), GPS of 1: one of these hematological abnormalities, and GPS of 0: neither elevated CRP nor hypoalbuminemia.

Results: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) classification for a risk stratification demonstrated that 3 (10.3%), 15 (51.7%), 5 (17.2%), and 6 (20.7%) patients were at very low, low, intermediate, and high risk, respectively, of disease recurrence. GPS criteria classified 24 (82.8%), five (17.2%), and no (0%) patients into GPS of 0, 1, and 2, respectively. Postoperative recurrence was identified in five patients (17.2%). Disease recurrence correlated with a risk stratification based on the NIH or GPS classification (p=0.004 and p=0.024, respectively).

Conclusion: The GPS, as well as NIH classification, is a promising blood predictor of disease recurrence in patients with resectable gastric GISTs.