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

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-Ill 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. (C) 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.