Clinicopathological study of gastric leiomyosarcoma

A total of 19 cases with gastric leiomyosarcomas underwent resection in our institute from 1973 to 1993. This number represents 0.70% of the total 2733 patients with gastric neoplasms presenting during the same period. Three was no nodal involvement in the 12 patients with tumors less than 9 cm in diameter. Only one patient died from recurrence. However, 6 of 7 patients died due to sarcomas exceeding 9 cm. If the mitotic number was below 3 in one high power field, neither death nor recurrence was seen, whereas 8 of 10 patients whose mitotic number exceeded three died or developed a recurrence. One patient survived more than 5 years after resection of a hepatic recurrent mass. Wedge resection of the stomach was recommended for tumors less than 9 cm in diameter.