Role of Surgery in the Management of Liver Metastases From Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors

BackgroundThe clinical benefit of hepatectomy in patients with liver metastases from gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) has not been well defined in this era of tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI). Our study aims to demonstrate the survival advantage of adding hepatectomy in patients with GIST liver metastases.MethodsInformation on patients with metastatic GIST treated or consulted between January 2006 and December 2018 was retrieved. Patients without extrahepatic metastases were included and classified into the surgical (S group) and non-surgical (NS group). Clinicopathological features were compared and their association with survival was assessed.ResultsA total of 119 patients were included in this retrospective analysis, 62 in the S group and 59 in the NS group. Comparison of clinicopathological features showed that a markedly higher proportion of patients in the S group had ≤3 hepatic lesions (79.0% vs. 29.8%, p