GIST Disease, A deadly tumor
by
Jim Lue
A gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST disease) is a perilous disease. It is one of the most common mesenchymal tumors of the gastrointestinal tract. It is responsible for around 1-3% of all reported gastrointestinal malignancy cases. It is a cancer of the cells which shape the structure of the stomach and intestine, not a cancer of the linings of the organ itself (that would be a carcinoma).
This means that it is more often than not painless and until it causes a swelling, or uneasiness by pressing on other organs, or ruptures causing blood loss and anemia, it may stay unnoticed. Characteristically, gist consists of tumors whose activities are driven by mutations in the Kit gene or PDGFRA gene, and may or may not stain positively for Kit.
There are some particular signs and symptoms that physicians and gastrointestinal specialist doctors try to make a note of in a patient who is supposed to have the GIST disease. A patient who has extreme problems in swallowing, gastrointestinal hemorrhage or metastases (mainly in the liver) is a vastly probable case of the GIST disease. In the probability of this illness, intestinal obstruction is observed in very few cases because the tumor involved has a general propensity to grow outwards. Knowledgeable doctors also talk about cases when patients having a record of vague abdominal pain or discomfort have been detected with the GIST tumor later on. In such cases, it gets even more serious since the tumor becomes rather large by the time the doctors are able to perform the accurate diagnosis. The disease is resistant to radiotherapy and traditional chemotherapies and until recently survival beyond a year with advanced GIST disease was very rare. But with added technological expertise to assist doctors in diagnosis, a definitive result is often given after the successful conduction of a biopsy on the patient. This biopsy can be performed endoscopically, percutaneously with CT or ultrasound guidance or directly at the time of operation. Also, most doctors play it safe by also conducting a blood test for the patient.
GIST disease tests positive in the pathology laboratory for c-kit/CD117. It is a test which requires great proficiency on the part of the pathologist and so it should be performed with due care by a properly experienced personnel. This test is widely considered offered a definitive diagnosis of GIST disease which leaves no semblance of doubt. Another motive behind this pathological test becoming so popular in such a short time is its ability to reveal a molecule on the tumor cell which switches the cancer on or off. A CD117 positive, or c-KIT + tumor offers a precise and accurate diagnosis of GIST disease and opens the way to treatment with imatinib.
“Jitendra Jain Says:”
GIST
disease is most comman mesenchymal tumors of the gastrointestinal tract.For more information and proper treatment of
GIST disease
. Visit: http://www.liferaftgroup.org/
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GIST Disease, A deadly tumor
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