Adjuvant therapy with imatinib in GIST patients after radical surgery

摘要

The tyrosine kinase inhibitor imatinib proved to be a highly effective therapy in patients with inoperable advanced or metastatic GIST. Furthermore, imatinib is being studied in several clinical trials as adjuvant treatment in GIST patients after radical removal of primary tumour. The data so far are encouraging and have shown that imatinib reduces the risk for recurrence especially in patients with larger tumours. The drug was well tolerated in the adjuvant setting. Nevertheless, in this setting there are still many questions to be answered. It is expected that the data from the clinical trials that are now ongoing will provide in the future the necessary knowledge how to perform the most adequate adjuvant therapy in radically operated GIST patients.