Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor of the Small Intestine with Dissemination Successfully Treated with Surgical Resection and Adjuvant Chemotherapy with Sunitinib-A Case Report

We report the case of a 73-year-old woman with repeated recurrent small intestinal gastrointestinal stromal tumor(GIST) who was referred to our hospital for best supportive care. She underwent surgical resection 4 times and developed recurrent tumors that were resistant to imatinib. She complained of right lower abdominal pain caused by the recurrent tumor. We performed surgical resection of the tumor and the disseminated tumors synchronously. Histopathological findings of the resected specimen revealed a high-risk GIST. After the operation, she was administered sunitinib(50mg/day)as adjuvant therapy according to a 4-week-on/2-week-off schedule. Due to the resulting adverse effects, the schedule was changed to 1-week-on/1-week-off therapy. She showed no sign of recurrence 38months after the last surgery. Thus, surgical resection and adjuvant molecular targeted therapy may be an effective treatment strategy for recurrent GIST.