Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors

Background: Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) is the most common mesenchymal tumors of the gastrointestinal system. Origin, differentiation, classification, and prognosis of these tumors are controversial. Our aim in this study is to enroll our clinical experience about GIST by sharing the current literature information regarding the diagnosis and treatment of it. Patients and Method: Nine patients who was operated and pathologic examination were reported as GIST between 2003–2009 years have been viewed retrospectively. Patients' demographic, clinical, pathological features and treatment methods were evaluated. Results: There were 6 female and 3 male patients with mean age of 65.7±14.2 years. The origins of GIST were stomach in 4 cases (44%), small bowel in 3 (33%) and extra-intestinal in 2 (22%). Two patient's histological diagnosis were done preoperatively. The diagnoses of other patients were done postoperatively. Surgery was performed in emergency conditions in two cases due to complications of tumor. An unresectable patient underwent curative surgery after development on partial remission with imatinib treatment. Four (44%) cases were identified as high risk group, 4 (44%) cases as intermediate, and 1 (11%) case as low risk group according to biological behavior of tumors. Conclusion: Although essential treatment of GIST is surgery, long disease-free survival time and important survival achievements were obtained with the use of tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Ensuring early diagnosis of these tumors and ability of diagnosis with advanced immunohistochemical methods are obstacles to be overcome. Key words: Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors, Imatinib, Surgical Treatment