New at-risk group identified for gastrointestinal stromal tumors
“Previous journal articles never clearly differentiated GIST from several other tumors, even though they have different biologies,” said Jason Sicklick, MD, assistant professor of surgery and a surgical oncologist at UC San Diego Health System. “This study more clearly identifies at-risk populations in the United States as well as incidence rates, survival trends and risk factors for the disease.” Prior to 2001, GIST-specific histology codes were not used in medical coding, which meant that a variety of tumor types, such as leiomyoma and leiomyosarcoma, spindle cell, myofibroblastic, desmoid and KIT-positive metastatic melanomas were all lumped into one category. Sicklick and his team have used a new generation of precise pathologic diagnostic codes to better define the incidence and distribution of GIST among different patient groups. The research team from UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center found that the overall incidence rate was 6.8 cases per million people and that the rate rose from 2001 to 2011. …