For patients with resectable gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs), physicians tend to underestimate risk of recurrence, according to a recent study published online ahead of print in JAMA Oncology.
Annie Guérin of the Analysis Group Inc. in Montreal and fellow researchers conducted a retrospective review of medical records of 506 patients with GISTs after primary resection reported by 109 oncologists in 2013.
Risk of recurrence after complete primary GIST resection was categorized as “underestimated” if oncologist-charted risk assessments of these patients were lower than assessments based on the Revised National Institutes of Health Consensus Criteria.
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The researchers found that physicians underestimated risk for 190 patients (37.5%). In addition, 30.1% of tumors with intermediate-level mitotic count and intermediate tumor size (6 to 10 cm) were correctly recognized as high-risk.
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A smaller number of high-risk patients that were considered to be underestimated had at least 3 years of planned adjuvant therapy compared to the not-underestimated patients.
Planned adjuvant treatment of at least 3 years compared to less than 3 years in high-risk patients demonstrated a lower hazard of recurrence or death.
Reference
- Guérin A, Sasane M, Keir CH, et al. Physician Underestimation of the Risk of Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor Recurrence After Resection. JAMA Oncology. doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2015.2407. [epub ahead of print]. July 23, 2015.
