EPIGIST: An observational real-life study on patients with metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumors receiving imatinib

BACKGROUND: Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are rare, but represent the most common mesenchymal neoplasms of the gastrointestinal tract. EPIdemiology GIST, is an observational multicenter longitudinal follow-up cohort study reporting the prescribing patterns of imatinib in patients with GIST and the impact of the treatment in a real-world (standard clinical) setting. METHODS: Eligible patients had a confirmed diagnosis of unresectable or metastatic KIT-positive GIST and started treatment with imatinib for the first time between May 24, 2002, and June 30, 2010. During routine visits, annual collection of clinical characteristics was requested, i.e., age, GIST stage at diagnosis, history, imatinib treatment duration and dosage, adherence, and concomitant medications. Survival outcomes were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Other data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: Of 151 patients enrolled, imatinib was initiated for 126 patients before enrollment and for 25 patients on the day of enrollment or soon after. The patient characteristics were similar to those in published prospective trials. The estimated 1-, 2-, 3-, and 4-year overall survival rates were 90.4% (95% confidence interval [CI; 84.8%-94.0%]), 84.7% (95% CI [78.1%-89.4%]), 73.0% (95% CI [65.0%-79.4%]), and 60.7% (95% CI [51.4%-68.8%]), respectively. The most common adverse events (AEs) were diarrhea (39%), asthenia (39%), eyelid or periorbital edema (32%), abdominal pain (23%), and anemia (21%). Eight of 126 serious AEs were possibly related to the treatment as assessed by investigators. CONCLUSIONS: Study results showed that patients in real-life populations are generally treated in accordance with national and international clinical recommendations and have outcomes comparable to those of patients in clinical trials.