[Leiomyosarcoma of the stomach--clinical aspects, morphology and therapy].

BACKGROUND

Due to the rarity of gastric leiomyosarcomas, only little is known on the results of diagnostics and therapy of these tumors. According to literature, the problem of suitable criteria in determining malignancy of these neoplasms is unsettled.

PATIENTS AND METHOD

21 patients (10 male, 11 female; aged 13 to 74 [53 +/- 13,9] years) with leiomyosarcomas of the stomach were treated from 1978 to 1993. In a retrospective study, the diagnostic and therapeutic results and the pathologic features of these patients are compared with the results of literature.

RESULTS

Diagnosis was rarely confined preoperatively. Potentially curative resection was possible in 13/21 cases. Five year survival was 44% overall (R0-resections: 60%, R1/2-resections 22%) with a wide spread of individual cases. Pathologic examination of the tumors showed only half of the tumors classifiable according to the system of McGrath. Some well differentiated tumors revealed unclear malignancy criteria. Analysis of prognostic factors showed no statistically significant influence of surgical radicality but a significant influence of tumor size, mitotic activity and nuclear grading on survival and recurrence.

CONCLUSIONS

Because of their rare incidence, the treatment of gastric leiomyosarcomas remains non-standardized. Surgical radical removal of the tumor seems to promise the largest benefit. The treatment of patients with residual or recurrent tumors remains individual, no adjuvant radio- or chemotherapeutical treatment can be generally recommended.