Population-based incidence and survival of gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST) in Girona, Spain

A Retrospective Study of the Incidence of GIST in Scotland from 1995 to 1999

“…It confirms a significant difference between prognostic groups which correlates with the risk of progressive disease [15]. However, there seems close overlap been the low and very low risk groups.…”

“…However, there are limitations to the criteria specifically in the heterogeneity of tumours in the high risk category [12] and overlap in overall survival between low and intermediate risk groups [13,14]. In view of this, emphasis has recently changed to an alternative prognostic system devised by the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) [15]. This relates to the risk of disease progression in terms of the primary or metastatic disease.…”

Is a “wait-and-see” policy the best for small gastric gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST)?

“…Micro GISTs were found in 22.5% of autopsy cases (8) and 35% of gastric cancer patients who underwent stomach resection (9). On the contrary, population-based studies have estimated that the annual incidence of clinically diagnosed GISTs is 11− 14.5 per million (10)(11)(12). According to observations of the large differences between the incidences of micro and clinical GISTs, there is widespread understanding that many of the micro GISTs are self-limiting and only a small population of micro GISTs develop into clinically diagnosed GISTs.…”

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors

“…The estimated incidence of GIST in Spain and Hong Kong is approximately 1.09/1,000,000 and 1.68-1.96/1,000,000 respectively. [4,5] It most occurs in the stomach (60%-70%), followed by small intestine (20%-30%), rectum, colon and esophagus (together 10%), extra-gastrointestinal tract is rare site. [6] Clinical manifestation of GIST is generally non-specific, and there is no clinical symptom among 1/3 of the patients.…”