Аннотация
Objective: Although gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) is a rare type of cancer and treatment can vary from simple surgical resection to multiple organ resection. In this study, we evaluated the surgical techniques applied according to tumor features. Methods: The records of 24 patients who underwent surgery for GIST in our clinic between 2008 and 2013 were analyzed retrospectively. Patient age at diagnosis, gender, presenting complaints, intraoperative findings, surgical technique applied, and pathological findings were evaluated. Non-parametric values were evaluated with the Kruskall-Wallis and the Mann Whitney U tests. Continuous variables were expressed as mean ± standard deviation (SD) and non-continuous variables as median (minimum- maximum) values. A value of p<0.05 was accepted as statistically significant. Results: The patients comprised 14 (58.3%) males and 10 (41.7%) females with a mean age at diagnosis of 57 years (range, 32-77 years). Surgery was performed due to symptomatic disease in 58.3% of the patients and following incidental diagnosis in 41.7%. GIST origin was the stomach in all patients that presented with bleeding, and the small intestine in the patient that presented with ileus. Simple surgical resection was performed in 37.5%, organ resection in 37.6%, and debulking surgery in 20.8% of the patients. The tumor was evaluated as unresectable in 1 patient. The median follow-up period of the patients was 48 months and median disease-free survival was 38.5 months. In 3 patients, liver metastasis was detected at mean 24.3 months postoperatively and imatinib treatment was initiated. Conclusion: Conservative follow-up is recommended for asymptomatic patients with a tumor <2 cm in size, whereas surgery is recommended for all symptomatic tumors regardless of size. Although simple resection is sufficient if the tumor can be completely removed, organ resection can be used to treat patients with large tumors.