NCCN Task Force report: optimal management of patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST)--expansion and update of NCCN clinical practice guidelines.

NCCN's Sarcoma Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology include a subsection regarding treatment recommendations on gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs). GIST is one area of medicine where the standard of practice has been affected rapidly and dramatically by the introduction of effective molecularly targeted therapy for this disease. There are few examples in modern medicine in which the implementation of new technologies into practice has so radically and rapidly affected clinical diagnostic strategies and treatments with significant implications for the care of patients. Because of these recent changes, NCCN organized a broad multidisciplinary panel composed of experts in the fields of diagnostic radiology, pathology, molecular diagnostics, surgery, medical oncology, and radiation oncology to discuss the optimal approach for the care of patients with GIST at all stages of the disease. The GIST task force is composed of NCCN faculty and other key experts from North America, comprising the United States and Canada. The purpose of this meeting was to expand on the existing NCCN clinical practice guidelines for gastrointestinal sarcomas and to identify areas of future research to optimize our understanding and treatment of this disease.