Although high-risk gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) frequently recur, even after a complete resection and imatinib therapy, local recurrence at the suture line after complete resection is rare. The present case was an 88-year-old woman who was initially diagnosed with high-risk GIST without a distant metastasis. She underwent a complete surgical resection of the lesion and received adjuvant imatinib therapy for 18 months, which was discontinued due to severe drug-induced anemia. During the follow- up, an endoscopic examination performed 40 months after the initial surgery revealed local recurrence at the anastomosis site. Although a complete surgical resection was performed, repeated local recurrence was detected 18 months later, which progressed rapidly to metastatic disease. This paper reports a case of a completely resected gastric GIST with repeated local recurrence, despite the complete surgical resections and adjuvant imatinib therapy.
Keywords: Gastrointestinal stromal tumors; Imatinib mesylate; Recurrence; Surgery.