Abstract
Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are rare, but remain the most common GI mesenchymal neoplasms. In the present study, six cases of GIST are reported, and one of these cases, a patient with esophageal GIST, is reported in-depth. Certain recent developments in the clinical therapy of GISTs are also discussed. The records of all surgically-resected GI stromal tumors treated at the Al-Hada Military Hospital between January 2007 and December 2012 were reviewed. There were six cases of surgically resected GISTs during this time period, three males and three females, with a mean age of 69.3±16.4 years. The stomach was involved in 66.7% of cases, the small intestine in 16.7% and the esophagus, which is an extremely rare site, in 16.7% of cases. The most common symptom at presentation was abdominal pain, followed by GI bleeding. The mean tumor size was 8.7±6.3 cm. Surgery was indicated by the presence of the aforementioned symptoms or a tumor size >5 cm. All tumors were completely resected with histologically negative margins. The diagnoses were established by immunohistochemistry. Four patients were classified as possessing a high-grade variant, and were administered with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). Following a mean follow up of 31 months, no recurrence or mortality was detected. Complete surgical resection with tumor-free margins is the standard treatment for GISTs, and TKIs should be used as adjuvant therapy if the risk of progressive disease is high.