Treatment of recurrent or metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumor: surgery or not / 中华胃肠外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Currently, the treatment of recurrent or metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumor(GIST) has become a tremendous challenge. Some international clinical trials revealed that imatinib might significantly improve the survival of patients with recurrent or metastatic GIST. Though the combination of surgery and imatinib has become an ideal treatment of metastatic GIST, there still exist some controversies regarding how to combine the two methods. Imatinib may influence the blood coagulation mechanism, therefore it is suggested that imatinib cessation should be performed a week before operation. Cytoreductive surgery has some clinical effects on recurrent or metastatic GIST, which can be combined with targeted therapy. Furthermore, the clinical trial for recurrent or metastatic GIST needs further evaluation.