Case Report
Copyright ©2008 The WJG Press and Baishideng. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jun 21, 2008; 14(23): 3763-3767
Published online Jun 21, 2008. doi: 10.3748/wjg.14.3763
Pathologic complete response confirmed by surgical resection for liver metastases of gastrointestinal stromal tumor after treatment with imatinib mesylate
Seiji Suzuki, Koji Sasajima, Masayuki Miyamoto, Hidehiro Watanabe, Tadashi Yokoyama, Hiroshi Maruyama, Takeshi Matsutani, Aimin Liu, Masaru Hosone, Shotaro Maeda, Takashi Tajiri
Seiji Suzuki, Koji Sasajima, Masayuki Miyamoto, Hidehiro Watanabe, Tadashi Yokoyama, Hiroshi Maruyama, Takeshi Matsutani, Department of Surgery, Tama-Nagayama Hospital, Nippon Medical School, 1-7-1 Nagayama, Tama, Tokyo 206-8512, Japan
Aimin Liu, Masaru Hosone, Shotaro Maeda, Department of Pathology, Tama-Nagayama Hospital, Nippon Medical School, 1-7-1 Nagayama, Tama, Tokyo 206-8512, Japan
Takashi Tajiri, Department of Surgery, Nippon Medical School, 1-1-5 Sndagi, Bunkyo-Ku, Tokyo 113-8603, Japan
Author contributions: Suzuki S, Miyamoto M and Yokoyama T performed hepatectomy; Watanabe H evaluated the effect of the treatment with imatinib; Suzuki S, Maruyama H and Matsutani T treated the patient with imatinib; Liu A, Hosone M and Maeda S evaluated the histopathological findings; Suzuki S wrote the paper; Sasajima K and Tajiri T reviewed the paper.
Correspondence to: Seiji Suzuki, Department of Surgery, Tama-Nagayama Hospital, Nippon Medical School, 1-7-1 Nagayama, Tama, Tokyo 206-8512, Japan. seiji@nms.ac.jp
Telephone: +81-42-3712111
Fax: +81-42-3727384
Received: March 22, 2008
Revised: May 6, 2008
Accepted: May 13, 2008
Published online: June 21, 2008
Abstract

A 39-year-old male underwent distal gastrectomy for a high grade gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST). Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) 107 mo after the operation, revealed a cystic mass (14 cm in diameter) and a solid mass (9 cm in diameter) in the right and left lobes of the liver, respectively. A biopsy specimen of the solid mass showed a liver metastasis of GIST. The patient received imatinib mesylate (IM) treatment, 400 mg/day orally. Following the IM treatment for a period of 35 mo, the patient underwent partial hepatectomy (S4 + S5). The effect of IM on the metastatic lesions was interpreted as pathologic complete response (CR). Pathologically verified cases showing therapeutic efficacy of IM have been rarely reported.

Keywords: Gastrointestinal stromal tumor; Liver metastasis; Imatinib mesylate; Pathologic complete response