Personalized management: Inoperable gastrointestinal stromal tumors

Abstract

Historically, patients with inoperable gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) had a very poor prognosis because of the highly resistant nature of these tumors to conventional chemotherapy. The rational and progressive development of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) since the initial proof-of-concept studies with imatinib mesylate in the late 1990s, all designed to exploit key pathways that lead to GISTs being so oncogenically addicted, have revolutionized the treatment of GIST. Median overall survival has improved from less than a year to at least 5 years in patients with advanced or metastatic disease. Imatinib remains the standard first-line treatment in advanced GIST; however, resistanc..