• Personalized Medicine Moves Forward

    Posted by Barbara Dore on March 16, 2006

    PORTLAND, Ore. – Patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) who have a particular genetic mutation are more likely to respond to Gleevec (imatinib) than those without the mutation, according to OHSU study results showcased at the 2005 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). The results confirm

  • ESMO: Tumor Shrinkage Doesn’t Predict Response to Imatinib Therapy in Patients With Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors

    Posted by Barbara Dore on March 13, 2006

    By Charlene Laino VIENNA,AUSTRIA — November 4, 2004 — Lack of progression is the most clinically significant predictor of a patient’s response to imatinib inpatients with gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST), a new analysis shows. While clinicians traditionally use tumour shrinkage to assess the anticancer activity of a given therapy, the

  • Tumor size alone not always best for gauging treatment response

    Posted by Barbara Dore on March 13, 2006

    Tumor size alone not always best for gauging treatment response Both PET and CT useful for judging biologic changes Not only can positron emission tomography (PET) help evaluate treatmentfor gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) by revealing biologicchanges such as how the tumor processes the fuel that makes it grow,but CT can

  • Pfizer submits application to FDA for Sutent (SU11248)

    Posted by Barbara Dore on March 13, 2006

    NEW YORK, August 10 — Pfizer Inc said today that it has submitted aNew Drug Application for its cancer medicine SU11248 (sunitinibmalate), known as Sutent, to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Pfizeris seeking FDA approval for Sutent as a treatment for malignantgastrointestinal stromal tumor and metastatic renal cell carcinomaamong

  • ECCO 13 – Sunitinib prolongs survival in GIST patients after imatinib mesylate failure

    Posted by Barbara Dore on March 13, 2006

    Paris, France, Thursday 3 November 2005 – Updated results from a PhaseIII trial presented at the 13th European Cancer Conference (ECCO) showthat sunitinib (SU11248) prolongs both progression-free and overallsurvival in patients with progressive metastatic and/or unresectableGIST whose disease has failed to respond to the standard therapy -imatinib mesylate. This study

  • Various Shades of Depression

    Posted by Barbara Dore on March 3, 2006

    "Various shades of depression are often par for the course with cancer, and can affect patients as well as close family members both directly and indirectly. There are various types and degrees of clinical depression, each requiring individual evaluation and appropriate treatment. Depression can also be an understandable and realistic

  • Anger and Resentment

    Posted by Barbara Dore on March 3, 2006

    Among the many posts to this List, we can sometimes hear the shouts and murmurs of our mingled voices – and some of the human sounds of our GISTmates. As we have come to share among ourselves something of our individual circumstances and personal worries, we have grown closer together