Surgical treatment for patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumor after targeted therapy

Abstract

To explore the role of surgery and its long-term outcome in patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumor(GIST) treated with imatinib preoperatively. Thirteen patients receiving imatinib therapy preoperatively, were retrospectively assessed for completeness of surgical resection and for disease-free and overall survival after resection. Thirteen patients, including 3 patients with locally advanced primary GIST and 10 patients with recurrent or metastatic GIST, underwent surgery after preoperative treatment with imatinib. Complete resections were accomplished in 4 of the 5 responsive disease(RD) patients, and in 1 of the 8 progression disease(PD) patients (38.5%). The progression-free survival(PFS) time for patients with RD and PD were 24.8 months and 2.8 months respectively. The difference of PFS between patients with RD and those with PD was significant(P<0.01). Median overall survival(OS) was not reached in both patients with RD and PD. The difference of OS between patients with RD and those with PD was not significant(P>0.05). Surgical intervention following imatinib is feasible and can be considered for patients with advanced GIST responsive to imatinib.