title: Clinical presentation of gastrointestinal stromal tumors and treatment of operable disease.
abstract: Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are generally found in the stomach or small intestine and less commonly in the colon, rectum or an intra-abdominal site. The patients symptoms on presentation are most commonly gastrointestinal bleeding. Surgery remains the standard treatment for nonmetastatic GISTs, but rates of disease recurrence are significant--5% in primary disease and 90% in locally advanced disease. Five-year survival following surgical resection varies between 35% and 65% on the basis of several published studies. Clinical knowledge of the prognosis of patients with GISTs remains rather limited--small tumor size, low-grade mitotic index and stomach location are factors associated with a more favorable prognosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Turku, FIN-20520, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.forename: Burton
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Eisenberg
mesh_terms: D005770:Gastrointestinal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000209:etiology; D009372:Neoplasms, Connective Tissue / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D017154:Stromal Cells / Q000473:pathology; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome