Characteristics and prognosis of jejunoileal gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs) in the era of imatinib: a comparative study with gastric GISTs

ABSTRACT

Backgroung Gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs) located in the jejunum or ileum (JI-GIST) are considered worse prognosis compared to those of gastric (G-GIST) location. It has been suggested that this dogma should be revised. The aim of this study was to describe the characteristics of jejunoileal GISTs and its prognosis and to compare them with G-GISTs in the era of imatinib. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the clinical histories of all the patients diagnosed with GISTs between January 2000 and November 2016 Clinical and pathological data, as recurrence, metastatic state, disease-free survival (DFS) as well as overall survival (OS) rates of patients were reviewed. Results JI-GIST patients comprise 29 cases (37.7%). Compared to G-GIST, JI-GIST patients had undergone emergency surgery more frequently (37.9% vs. 10.4%, p = 0.007). According to the NIH-Fletcher classification, the low or very-low risk group represents 17.2% of JI-GISTs as opposed to 37.6% of G-GISTs (p < 0.005). When the AFIP-Miettinen system was used the low or very-low group represented 17.2% of JI-GISTs vs. 58.4% in the G-GISTs group (p < 0.001). Both local recurrence (24.1% vs. 12.5%, p < 0.05) and metastatic rate (34.5% vs. 22.9%, p < 0.05) were higher in the JI-GIST group than in G-GIST. 5- and 10-year DFS and 10-year OS rate were lower for JI-GIST (54.5% and 39.6% vs. 77.2% and 60.8%, and 57.9% vs. 65%, respectively, p < 0.05). Conclusions The observed differences between both groups in DFS and OS rates at long term could be attributed to the effect of imatinib (AU)