Diagnosis and management strategies of small gastrointestinal stromal tumors

The actual incidence of gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) is underestimated. With the progression of awareness and development of examination methods, the detection rate of small GIST (diameter<5 cm) is increasing year by year. These patients always had no obvious clinical symptoms, and were often detected with small GIST in physical examination　unexpectedly. Combination of endoscopic ultrasound and radiographic examination is helpful in detecting small GIST. Aggressive surgical complete resection should be considered in case of　a definitive diagnosis. Laparoscopic resection is becoming the standard surgical treatment currently. For micro GIST (diameter<2 cm), especially micro gastric stromal tumor, current guidelines recommend close observation. Some scholars advocate that endoscopic resection is feasible for the treatment of micro GIST, while we think that the efficacy of individualized treatment is better after identifying the potential malignancy of micro GIST.