Gastrointestinal stromal tumours: advances in surgical and pharmacological management options

Gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs), first described by Mazur and Clark (1) are a group of mesenchymal neoplasms which arise from precursors of connective-tissue cells of the gastrointestinal tract (2). The incidence of GISTs is thought to be between 10 and 20/106 people per year (3,4). It has been estimated that around 70% of GISTs occur in the stomach, around 25% develop in the small intestine and less than 10% are present in other parts of the gastrointestinal tract (2), although other reports do vary slightly (5). Occasionally, GISTs can occur in the omentum, mesentery, or retro-peritoneum (6). Men and women are equally affected (7) and GISTs are diagnosed principally between the ages of 40 to 80 (8). However, GISTs can have a familial component and hence occur in younger patients (9)