S. Papagrigoriadis et al., GASTROINTESTINAL LEIOMYOSARCOMAS - EXPERIENCE OF 14 CASES AND REVIEW OF PUBLISHED REPORTS, The European journal of surgery, 164(9), 1998, pp. 693-696
Objective: To present our experience of leiomyosarcoma of the gastroin
testinal tract during a 10 year period and review similar publications
. Design: Retrospective study. Setting: Teaching hospital, Greece. Sub
jects: 14 patients who were treated for leiomyosarcoma between 1983 an
d 1993. Interventions: Tumours were diagnosed by endoscopy, computed t
omography, and contrast examination. All patients were treated by rese
ction and no adjuvant treatment was given. Main outcome measures: Morb
idity, mortality, and outcome. Results: The diagnosis was made preoper
atively in 10/14 patients; 4 of the tumours were locally advanced at t
he time of laparotomy, and two had liver metastases. Resection was pot
entially curative (all macroscopic tumour removed) in 12 patients (86%
). Three patients died of recurrent disease at 5, 8 and 63 months, res
pectively. The mean follow up in the 11 survivors was 44 months (range
24-83). Conclusion: Resection is the treatment of choice for these tu
mours. A multicentre trial would be required to assess the effect of a
djuvant chemotherapy.