title: Surgical treatment of gastric gastrointestinal stromal tumors: analysis of 92 operated patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To review and evaluate the clinicopathological factors predictive of recurrence after surgical resection for gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) of the stomach.
  
  
  METHODS
  The clinicopathological records of 92 gastric GIST patients who were operated upon at a single institute from 1996 to 2005 were retrospectively reviewed and assessed for recurrence-free survival.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The patients included 43 men and 49 women. Their ages ranged from 25 to 91 years. The size of the tumors varied from 0.8 to 47.7 cm (median 5.8; 95% CI 6.4-9.2 cm). All but one operative margin were clear. The follow-up period ranged from 11 to 112 months (median 31, 95% CI 33.7-43.5 months). Fifteen patients (16%) developed disease recurrence, of which liver metastasis was the most common. Only 1 of the patients with tumors <4 cm developed recurrence. The 3-year recurrence-free survival rates for patients with tumors smaller or larger than 4 cm were 93 and 56.0%, respectively (p < 0.01). Multivariate analysis showed that the tumor size was the independent factor that was inversely associated with recurrence-free survival.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The tumor size is an important prognostic factor for recurrence after surgery. Early excision is recommended for gastric GISTs even of small size.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: I-Rue
authors.initials: IR
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Chiung-Nien
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Ming-Tsan
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Po-Huang
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D046152:Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary; D008297:Male; D008637:Mesenchymoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000473:pathology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*