Extragastrointestinal stromal tumors can have a worse prognosis than gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs), according to a new study published in the Journal of Oncology. However, this is only the case in patients with high risk factors, which include accepted adjuvant therapy, larger tumor size, and tumor necrosis and mitosis.
There are currently no clinical guidelines in place for the diagnosis and treatment of extragastrointestinal stromal tumors. In clinical practice, patients are diagnosed and treated in the same way as patients with GISTs.
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Here, a team of researchers from China led by Yong Li, MD, conducted a cohort study to compare the tumor characteristics and long-term outcomes of patients with extragastrointestinal stromal tumors and those with GISTs.
They enrolled 55 patients with extragastrointestinal stromal tumors and 221 patients with GISTs in the study. All 55 patients had undergone surgical treatment. The researchers then matched 43 patients from each group and compared their prognoses to explore factors affecting prognosis.
The results showed that with extragastrointestinal stromal tumors, the location of the tumor was negatively correlated with overall survival and disease-free survival.
The researchers then divided the patients into subgroups based on the presence or absence of high-risk factors. They found that extragastrointestinal stromal tumor patients with high-risk factors had a worse prognosis than those with GIST. However, there was no difference in terms of prognosis between patients with GIST and extragastrointestinal stromal tumor patients without high-risk factors.
“While previous studies suggested a worse prognosis in [extragastrointestinal stromal tumors] and the clinicopathological characteristics of [extragastrointestinal stromal tumors], our findings suggest that there is a similar prognosis in patients without high risk factors,” the researchers wrote.
Their findings led them to conclude that extragastrointestinal stromal tumor patients without high-risk factors should receive routine treatment.
Reference
Feng H, Hu W, Zheng C, et al. Clinical features of extragastrointestinal stromal tumor compared with gastrointestinal stromal tumor: a retrospective, multicenter, real-world study. J Oncol. 2021;2021:1460131. doi:10.1155/2021/1460131
