SEE PROFILE

For patients with primary, localized gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), surgery with complete excision is the treatment of choice.1 However, more than half of patients experience tumor recurrence during the course of their disease,2 and complete resection can be achieved only in less than half of these patients who had recurrence of the tumors. Recently, imatinib has been applied in the treatment of unresectable or recurrent GISTs, resulting in improved patient survival. However, long-term results of imatinib in metastatic GIST as well as its complete response during treatment are very rare.3-6 Moreover, the results of cytoreductive surgery in patients with far advanced or metastatic GISTs who are treated with imatinib are also rare. Herein, we report two patients who have experienced long-term survival with recurrent GIST after receiving cytoreductive surgery with imatinib therapy. Case 1 A 49-year-old man came to the emergency center presenting with epigastric pai