Abstract
We investigated the role of surgical intervention for advanced GIST after imatinib. Among 256 patients treated with imatinib for advanced GIST, the medical records of the 34 patients who underwent surgery of residual tumors after imatinib treatment were reviewed. Surgery was performed on 24 patients with responsive disease (RD) after imatinib, on 3 with focal progressive disease (FP), and on 7 with generalized progressive disease (GP). All gross tumors were completely resected in 19/24 (79%), 1/3 (33%), and 1/7 (14%) patients, respectively. Disease status at surgery was associated with prognosis after surgery; with a median follow-up of 25.7 months, the median progression-free survival of patients resected for RD, FP, and GP were 27.8 months (95% CI, 17.8-37.8 months), 5.1 months (95% CI, 4.7-5.6 months), and 3.3 months (95% CI, 2.7-3.9 months), respectively (P < 0.001). Median overall survival was not reached in patients resected for RD, and was 22.5 months (95% CI, 1.4-43.0 months) and 23.5 months (95% CI, 3.0-43.9) for patients resected for FP and GP, respectively (P < 0.001). Surgical resection of tumors responsive to imatinib may be beneficial in patients with advanced GIST. Debulking surgery, however, is not recommended for patients who have already developed imatinib resistance.
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