Prognostic characteristics of duodenal gastrointestinal stromal tumours.

BACKGROUND: This study evaluated the clinical characteristics, surgical procedures and prognosis of duodenal gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs).

METHODS: Patients with a diagnosis of primary duodenal GIST treated between January 2000 and December 2012 were analysed. Patients with gastric and small intestinal GISTs were chosen as control groups according to the following parameters: age, tumour size, mitotic index and adjuvant imatinib therapy. Operative procedures for patients with duodenal GIST included pancreaticoduodenectomy or limited resection. Disease-free survival (DFS) was calculated using Kaplan-Meier analysis.

RESULTS: Some 71 patients with duodenal, 71 with gastric and 70 with small intestinal GISTs were included in the study. DFS of patients with duodenal GIST was shorter than that of patients with gastric GIST (3-year DFS 84 versus 94 per cent; hazard ratio (HR) 3.67, 95 per cent c.i. 1.21 to 11.16; P = 0.014), but was similar to that of patients with small intestinal GIST (3-year DFS 84 versus 81 per cent; HR 0.75, 0.37 to 1.51; P = 0.491). Patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy were older, and had larger tumours and a higher mitotic index than patients who had limited resection. The 3-year DFS was 93 per cent among patients who had limited resection compared with 64 per cent for those who underwent PD (HR 0.18, 0.06 to 0.59; P = 0.001).

CONCLUSION: The prognosis of duodenal GISTs is similar to that of small intestinal GISTs.