GI Stromal Tumors: 15 Years of Lessons From a Rare Cancer

A confluence of factors, most prominently the recognition of GI stromal tumor (GIST) as a specific sarcoma subtype and the availability of imatinib, led to the "Big Bang" of GIST therapy (ie, the successful treatment of the first patient with GIST with imatinib in 2000). The trail blazed by imatinib for chronic myelogenous leukemia and GIST has become a desired route to regulatory approval of an increasing number of oral kinase inhibitors and other novel therapeutics. In this review, the status of GIST management before and after GIST's "Big Bang" and new steps being taken to further improve on therapy are reviewed.