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Controlled Clinical Trial
. 2007 Jun 4;96(11):1656-8.
doi: 10.1038/sj.bjc.6603797. Epub 2007 May 29.

Adjuvant imatinib treatment improves recurrence-free survival in patients with high-risk gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST)

B Nilsson  1 , K Sjölund, L-G Kindblom, J M Meis-Kindblom, P Bümming, O Nilsson, J Andersson, H Ahlman
Affiliations
Controlled Clinical Trial

Adjuvant imatinib treatment improves recurrence-free survival in patients with high-risk gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST)

B Nilsson et al. Br J Cancer. .

Abstract

Palliative imatinib treatment has dramatically improved survival in patients with malignant gastrointestinal stromal tumours, particularly in patients with tumours harbouring activating KIT mutations. To evaluate the effectiveness of adjuvant imatinib after radical surgery, a consecutive series of patients with high-risk tumours (n=23) was compared with historic controls (n=48) who were treated with surgery alone. The mean follow-up period was over 3 years in both groups. Only 1 out of 23 patients (4%) in the adjuvant treatment group developed recurrent disease compared to 32 out of 48 patients (67%) in the control group. This preliminary study indicates that 1 year of adjuvant treatment with imatinib dramatically improves recurrence-free survival. Confirmation of these findings awaits the results of ongoing randomised studies.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Kaplan–Meier estimates of recurrence-free survival in patients with high-risk GIST. Historical controls (black) were only treated with R0 resection (mean follow-up 36 months, range 2–151 months), while the consecutive series of patients (mean follow-up 40 months, range 18–62 months) had adjuvant imatinib (400 mg day−1) for 1 year after radical surgery (red). In the latter group only one patient has developed recurrence.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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