Surgical resection of gastric gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) in octogenarians.

Abstract Background Localized gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are rare tumors typically managed with surgery, but outcomes among octogenarians remain less studied. Methods Octogenarian patients with stage I-III gastric GISTs were identified from the National Cancer Database and classified by resection status. Cox regression and Kaplan-Meier survival analyses analyzed 5-year overall survival (OS). Ninety-day mortality was analyzed following 1:1 propensity score matching. Results Identified octogenarians (N = 949) who underwent resection (N = 632) had improved adjusted OS (71% vs 59.6%, HR 0.75, p 0.049) as compared to non-resected patients. Following matching, 90-day mortality was 5.7% and 11% in resected and non-resected patients (p 0.052), respectively. After exclusion of patients with 90-day mortality, resected patients maintained an OS advantage (77.3% vs 71.1%, HR 0.64, p 0.028). Conclusions The majority of octogenarians with localized gastric GIST are treated with surgery portending improved survival but an appreciable mortality, suggesting a necessity for careful selection of older patients for surgery.