Objective: To investigate the clinicopathological diagnosis and management of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs). Methods: The clinicopathological data of 100 GISTs patients were retrospectively analyzed. Results: All patients had a single lesion on CT scan, of whom 79 cases had a benign lesion that presented as soft tissue mass with uniform density, and 21 cases had malignant tumor that showed a lobulated mass with low-density necrotic areas of variable sizes inside. The dual-phase contrast-enhanced CT scan demonstrated that there were ulcers of varying sizes in the tumor cavity, and the ulcers in 7 cases of malignant tumor were large and deep. The masses were heterogeneously enhanced under contrast-enhanced CT scan, and no enhancement was seen in the cystic necrotic area. The lesions of 56 cases were located in the stomach, 26 cases in the duodenum, 10 cases in the small bowel, 6 cases in the colon and rectum, and 2 cases in the mesentery. The pathological examination of the surgical specimens showed cell nests composed of spindle-shaped tumor cells with the typical arrangement of GISTs. All patients underwent complete resection, no lymph node metastasis was found and no intraoperative or postoperative death occurred. The average length of hospitalization was 15.2 d. The follow-up period ranged from 6 months to 24 months, during which time 5 malignant GIST patients died and all the the deaths were due to liver metastases; tumor recurrence occurred in 28 patients (28%), of whom 12 cases were borderline tumors and 16 cases were malignant tumors; 16 cases had local recurrence and 12 cases had peritoneal recurrence. All of the recurrent cases were alive during the 3-month follow-up period after a second resection. Conclusion: The diagnosis of GISTs depends on the clinical manifestations, CT scan findings and pathological examination, and GISTs may have better outcomes after early surgical resection.