Gastrointestinal stromal tumor overview
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Gastrointestinal stromal tumor Microchapters |
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Differentiating Gastrointestinal stromal tumor from other Diseases |
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Diagnosis |
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Treatment |
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Case Studies |
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Gastrointestinal stromal tumor overview On the Web |
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American Roentgen Ray Society Images of Gastrointestinal stromal tumor overview |
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Directions to Hospitals Treating Gastrointestinal stromal tumor |
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Risk calculators and risk factors for Gastrointestinal stromal tumor overview |
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Overview
In medical oncology, gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) are a rare tumor of the gastrointestinal tract (1-3% of all gastrointestinal malignancies).
GIST is a form of connective tissue cancer, or sarcoma. GISTs are therefore non-epithelial tumors, separate from more common forms of bowel cancer. 70% occur in the stomach, 20% in the small intestine and less than 10% in the esophagus. Small tumors are generally benign, especially when cell division rate is slow, but large tumors disseminate to the liver, omentum and peritoneal cavity. They rarely occur in other abdominal organs.