ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics, treatment and prognostic factors of postoperative recurrent-metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST). Methods The clinical data of 56 patients with postoperative recurrent-metastatic GIST between January 1997 and December 2007 were analyzed retrospectively , and the prognostic factors were evalutated. Results Initial recurrence-metastasis was diagnosed after a median of 17.3 months from primary resection. Of the 56 cases, 19 cases received resection, 8 cases received imatinib targeted therapy,14 cases were treated by imatinib targeted therapy and surgery, the 3 year survival rates were 65% ,66% ,89% respectively. The rate of recurrence-metastasis after reoperation is 76%. Univariate analysis revealed that surgery, targeted therapy and age were related to the survival rates, multivariate analysis demonstrated that surgery and targeted therapy were the independent prognostic factors for survival. Conclusions For recurrent-metastatic GIST, a multimodal approach including surgery and targeted therapy improves survival.