Postoperative Imatinib in Patients with Intermediate Risk Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor

Abstract

Aim: To determine whether imatinib adjuvant treatment improved recurrence-free survival (RFS) in gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) with intermediate risk. Materials & methods: Patients who had undergone complete tumor resection with intermediate risk were enrolled. Results: A total of 99 patients received imatinib adjuvant therapy and 93 patients only received observation. The RFS in patients who received adjuvant therapy was superior to RFS in control group (p = 0.004). GIST with location of intestine or rectum and GIST with exon 11 deletion mutation had longer RFS. Conclusion: Adjuvant imatinib improves RFS of GIST with intermediate risk of recurrence, particularly in GIST with intestinal and rectal location or c-kit gene exon 11 deletion mutation.

Keywords::

• adjuvant therapy
• gastrointestinal stromal tumor
• imatinib
• intermediate risk

Financial & competing interests disclosure\

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were approved by Beijing Cancer Hospital Ethical Committee.