Treatment strategy for recurrent and metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumors

Abstract

Targeted therapy is the first line treatment for patients with recurrent/metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumors(GIST). Sunitinib is effective for patients who have failed imatinib, specially with c-kit exon 9 gene mutation. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors combined with partial hepatectomy may increase the overall survival of GIST patients with liver metastasis. Selective patients with recurrent or metastatic GIST can benefit from surgical resection. Regorafenib and pazopanib can provide a significant improvement in progression-free survival in patients after failure of standard treatment.