Researchers have developed a novel method to predict gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST) recurrence, demonstrating that, in contrast with current clinical practice, most patients are cured by surgery alone and do not benefit from adjuvant imatinib therapy.
Looking at risk of recurrence in over 2,500 patients with operable GIST who did not have adjuvant therapy, the investigators found that 15-year recurrence-free survival (RFS) rate was around 60%.
Independent adverse prognostic factors were large tumour size, high mitosis count, non-gastric location and presence of tumour rupture. Men also had slightly greater risk of recurrence than women. Patients identified as having an intermediate risk had similar RFS to the low-risk group, meaning that only high-risk patients would be likely to benefit from adjuvant therapy.
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