Gastrointestinal Leiomyosarcomas: Experience of 14 Cases and Review of Published Reports

Objective: To present our experience of leiomyosarcoma of the gastrointestinal tract during a 10 year period and review similar publications.Design: Retrospective study.Setting: Teaching hospital, Greece.Subjects: 14 patients who were treated for leiomyosarcoma between 1983 and 1993.Interventions: Tumours were diagnosed by endoscopy, computed tomography, and contrast examination. All patients were treated by resection and no adjuvant treatment was given.Main outcome measures: Morbidity, mortality, and outcome.Results: The diagnosis was made preoperatively in 10/14 patients; 4 of the tumours were locally advanced at the time of laparotomy, and two had liver metastases. Resection was potentially curative (all macroscopic tumour removed) in 12 patients (86%). Three patients died of recurrent disease at 5, 8 and 63 months, respectively. The mean follow up in the 11 survivors was 44 months (range 24&83).Conclusion: Resection is the treatment of choice for these tumours. A multicentre trial would be required to...