Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are not common, but the exact number of people diagnosed with these tumors each year is not known. Up until the late 1990s, not much was known about these tumors (and doctors didn't have good ways of identifying them with lab tests), so many of them ended up being classified as other kinds of GI cancers.
Current estimates for the total number of GIST cases each year in the United States range from about 4,000 to about 5,000.
These tumors can start anywhere in the GI tract, but they occur most often in the stomach (about 60%) or the small intestine (about 30%). The rest are found in the esophagus, large intestine (colon and rectum), and anus.
Most people diagnosed with GIST are older than 50, but these tumors can occur in people of any age. They are slightly more common in men. African Americans are more likely to develop GISTs than whites.
Survival statistics for GIST are described in the section, "Survival rates."
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