Gastrointestinal stromal tumor secondary prevention

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Akshun Kalia M.B.B.S.[2]

Effective measures for the secondary prevention of gastrointestinal stromal tumors include regular follow ups including physical examination with laboratory and imaging evaluations. GIST on medical therapy tend to have a recurrent course and must be evaluated on a periodic basis with an CT scan or PET scan for early identification of recurrent disease.

Effective measures for the secondary prevention of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) include:^[1]

• Regular follow ups including physical examination with laboratory and imaging evaluations.
  • GISTs are known to present with locally recurrent and distant metastasis and thus periodic evaluation through a CT scan should be done for early detection of recurrent disease and prevention of future complications (such as tumor hemorrhage). However, there is no consensus on the time interval between assessment.
  • Patients with indeterminate or inaccessible lesions can be evaluated with PET scans to identify malignant lesions from benign lesions.
    • A positron emission tomography (PET) scanning can also be used to determine response to therapy and can identify active tumor from necrotic and inactive scar tissue. This is particularly helpful in patients receiving tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy for incompletely resected, recurrent, or metastatic disease.

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