Tumor size is a major determinant of recurrence in patients with resectable gastrointestinal stromal tumor.

Background: Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are the most common mesenchymal tumor of the gastrointestinal tract. Surgery remains the mainstay of curative treatment. Recurrence after surgery was frequent and was associated with poor prognosis. In this study, we tried to identify predictors of recurrence in resectable GISTs.

Methods: Between January 1995 and December 2005, 100 patients undergoing surgical resection for GISTs in 2 hospitals were studied.

Results: There were 67 gastric and 33 intestinal GISTs. Recurrence was noted in 11 patients (median follow-up of 43 months). Overall 5-year survival was 84%. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that tumor size > or = 10 cm was associated with higher recurrence rates (P = .032) and was the only independent poor prognostic factor for survival (P = .020).

Conclusions: We concluded that tumor size > or = 10 cm carried both a higher risk of recurrence and worse survival in resectable GISTs and could be considered an indicator for adjuvant therapy.