Current management of gastrointestinal stromal tumors: Surgery, current biomarkers, mutations, and therapy

In the past decade, the addition of molecular diagnosis of mutations and use of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), either as neoadjuvant/adjuvant therapy with surgery or as primary therapy in nonresectable gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), has improved patient outcomes markedly. Additional therapeutics also are on the horizon. The goal of this review is to identify the current incidence, diagnostic modalities, and trends in personalizing the medical and operative management for patients with GIST. Medline, PubMed, and Google scholar were queried for recently published literature regarding new molecular mechanisms, targeted therapies, and clinical trials investigating the treatment of GIST. The objective of this review is to highlight the biomarkers under development, newly discovered mutations, and newer therapies targeting specific mutational phenotypes which are continually improving the outlook for patients with this disease.