Treatments for GIST

Patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST cancer) can receive effective treatments today.  For links to experts’ treatment recommendations for GIST, see the NCCN and other expert consensus GIST standard-of-care guidelines listed on our page GIST Treatment Guidelines.

Current Treatments

  • Surgery – Surgery is the first step in treatment for GIST, and it is often curative.
  • Imatinib (Gleevec) – Imatinib (Gleevec) is FDA-approved for treatment of unresectable and metastatic GIST, as well as for prevention of recurrence of higher-risk GISTs (adjuvant therapy).
  • Sunitinib (Sutent) – Sunitinib (Sutent) is FDA-approved for treatment of GIST resistant to imatinib/Gleevec and for patients who are intolerant of imatinib/Gleevec.
  • Regorafenib (Stivarga) – Regorafenib (Stivarga) is approved for treatment of GIST resistant to imatinib and sunitinib.
  • Avapritinib (Ayvakit) – Avapritinib (Ayvakit) is approved for treatment of GIST with a mutation in exon 18 of PDGFRA.
  • Hepatic artery embolization – Embolization is a surgical procedure for treatment of liver metastases of GIST.
  • Radiofrequency ablation – RFA is a surgical procedure for treatment of liver metastases of GIST.
  • Off-Label Use of FDA-Approved Drugs – Drugs approved for other diseases that may be prescribed for GIST at a physician’s discretion.
  • GIST Patients’ Right to Treatment – the Bad Nauheim Declaration, endorsed by GIST Support International, for the right of all GIST cancer patients to receive up-to-date treatment.

Clinical Trials

  • Clinical Trials informs you about current trials for gastrointestinal stromal tumor plus things to consider before signing up for a trial.  This page includes a table showing all clinical trials for GIST, plus maps of locations of trials for GIST cancer. 

Clinical trials for GIST:

A Randomised Trial of Imatinib Alternating With Regorafenib Compared to Imatinib Alone for the First Line Treatment of Advanced Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumour (GIST),  click here to view link on clinical trials.gov

Phase Ib Study of Sunitinib Alternating With Regorafenib in Patients With Metastatic and/or Unresectable GIST (SURE), click here to view link in clinical trials.gov

Regorafenib in GIST With Secondary C-KIT Exon 17 Mutation, click here to view trial in clinical trials.gov

Regorafenib Post-marketing Surveillance in Japan, click here to view trial in clinicaltrials.gov

The Effects of the Proton Pump Inhibitor Esomeprazole on the Bioavailability of Regorafenib (REGORA), click here to view in clinicaltrials.gov

Stivarga Regulatory Post-Marketing Surveillance Study in Korea (StivargaPMS), click here to view in clinicaltrials.gov

PLX9486 as a Single Agent and in Combination With PLX3397 in Patients With Advanced Solid Tumors,  click here to view in clinicaltrials.gov

Randomized Trial of Crenolanib in Subjects With D842V Mutated GIST,  click here to view in clinicaltrials.gov

A Safety, Tolerability and PK Study of DCC-2618 in Patients With Advanced Malignancies,  click here to view in clinicaltrials.gov

A Study of AUY922 for GIST(Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor) Patients,  click here to view in clinicaltrials.gov

Registry For Temsirolimus, Sunitinib, And Axitinib Treated Patients With Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma (mRCC), Mantle Cell Lymphoma (MCL), And Gastro-Intestinal Stroma Tumor (GIST) [STAR-TOR] (STAR-TOR),  click here to view link in clinicaltrials.gov

Clinical trials for Wildtype GIST:

Single Agent Regorafenib in First-line for Metastatic/Unresectable KIT/PDGFR Wild Type GIST (REGISTRY),  click here to view link in clinicaltrials.gov

Study of the Glutaminase Inhibitor CB-839 in Solid Tumors,  click here to view in clinicaltrials.gov

Clinical trials for Paragangliomas

131-I-MIBG Therapy for Refractory Neuroblastoma and Metastatic Paraganglioma/Pheochromocytoma,  click here to view link on clinicaltrials.gov

First International Randomized Study in Malignant Progressive Pheochromocytoma and Paraganglioma(FIRSTMAPPP),  click here to view in clinicaltrials.gov