Evaluation of clinicopathological features and survival-related prognostic factors in patients diagnosed with gastrointestinal stromal tumors

Aim: Gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GİST) are the most common mesenchymal tumours of the gastrointestinal tract and are usually located in the stomach and small intestine. These tumours, whose cellular origin is interstitial Cajal cells, are highly variable in terms of clinical behaviour. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinicopathological characteristics of patients diagnosed with GİST admitted to Dicle University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Oncology between 2010 and 2025 and to determine the prognostic factors associated with survival. Materials and Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted by analysing the file data of 59 patients diagnosed with GİST. Demographic data, tumour localisation, histological subtype, mitotic index, Ki-67 proliferation rate, treatments and survival data were analysed. Kaplan-Meier and multivariate Cox regression methods were used in survival analyses. Results: 54.2% of the patients were male and the mean age was 60.6±13.5 years. The most common tumour localisation was stomach with 44.1%, followed by jejunum-ileum. 52.6% of the patients were in the high risk group. The mean Ki-67 ratio was 10.75% and the rate of patients with mitotic index >5 was 37.3%. The proportion of patients who underwent curative surgery was 67.8% and 92.3% received adjuvant treatment. The mean survival time was 124.3 months. The factors that negatively affected survival were the presence of metastasis, tumour localisation and recurrence. Conclusion: Tumour localisation, mitotic activity, risk class and presence of metastasis are critical in determining the prognosis of GİSTs. An individualised approach should be adopted in clinical management and further studies with larger samples should be performed. Keywords: Gastrointestinal stromal tumour; survival; prognostic factors; metastasis; adjuvant therapy.