Closing in on accurate risk prediction and disease management for patients with operable GIST

摘要

Gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST) are the most common mesenchymal tumours of the gastrointestinal tract and most are caused by oncogenic mutations of the KIT or PDGFRA gene, which encode receptor tyrosine kinases. Although complete surgical resection is still the mainstay of therapy, patients with advanced GIST can now be successfully treated with targeted therapies, most importantly imatinib mesylate. However, the natural course of the disease is very unpredictable, and although some patients can be cured by surgery alone, more than 50% experience recurrence within 5 years of complete resection.