Familial and multiple gastrointestinal stromal tumors with fair response to a half-dose of imatinib.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are the most common mesenchymal tumors of the gastrointestinal tract. Since our first report in 1998, approximately 30 families with multiple GISTs due to a germline gain-of-function mutation of c-kit have been reported. We herein present a case of a family with multiple GISTs that have a germline c-kit mutation in exon 11 (Del-Val560) in two siblings. One of the patients showed a fair response to treatment with a half-dose of imatinib (200 mg/day). There are few reports describing the response to imatinib in familial GISTs and this drug appears to be a promising therapeutic option.