Free-access GIST reviews

An entire issue of the journal Clinical Colorectal Cancer devoted to GIST is available free-access online. Entitled "Emerging Trends in the Management of Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors," this November 2006 issue is edited by Margaret von Mehren, MD. Physicians can obtain continuing medical education units by studying the five included papers.

Sutent and Thyroid Function

According to data for patients in the Phase I/II trial of sunitinib (Sutent), 36% developed hypothyroidism during treatment with sunitinib, and the incidence of hypothyroidism increased with duration of treatment. These findings were published in November 2006 by Desai et al in the Annals of Internal Medicine (click for abstract).

GIST Summit webcasts

The Third GIST Global Opinion Leader Summit meeting, “Multi-modality Approaches to Treating Patients with GIST” was held in Prague on October 27-29, 2006, and was supported by an unrestricted grant from Novartis Oncology. The co-chairs for the meeting were Jean-Yves Blay, MD PhD and Peter Reichardt, MD PhD, both well-known

Cardiotoxicity from imatinib?

Could imatinib (Gleevec) affect heart function? A new paper released electronically (prior to print publication) suggests that a small percent of patients taking imatinib may experience reduced cardiac function. Specifically, some patients may experince reduced left ventricular function of the heart, reducing its pumping capacity. Dr. Thomas Force, the corresponding

Slide presentation from Dr. Peter Reichardt

Dr. Peter Reichardt has generously made available the slides he used at his June 2005 presentation at the meeting "New Horizons in Treating Cancer: Third International Conference for Organizations Representing People with CML or GIST," held in Dublin, Ireland. This presentation summarizes the consensus about GIST diagnosis and treatment from

Managing Sutent side effects

A practical paper written by oncology nurse Laura S. Wood, RN MSN OCN has been published online with free access by the journal Community Oncology. The paper, which covers side effects from sunitinib and sorafenib (in trials for GIST), deals with fatigue, hypertension, diarrhea, mucositis, skin conditions, and hair changes.

Dr. von Mehren on GIST

Margaret von Mehren, MD, of Fox-Chase Cancer Center, recently gave an interview on GIST treatment to Medscape. You can complete a free registration to view the entire interview at Medscape. Major points included: role of surgery after kinase inhibitor treatment importance of a patient’s particular mutation in determining response to

PET Scans & Medicare

National Oncologic PET Registry http://www.cancerpetregistry.org/ Medicare has started a project to determine the potential benefits of PET scans for additional cancer applications, as input data to determine whether additional cancers and purposes should be covered by Medicare’s rules for paying for PET scans. Currently Medicare does not pay for PET

GSI attends ASCO

Three members of GIST Support International attended the meeting of ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology) in Atlanta June 2-6, 2006. Karen Loomis, Leslie Norman, MD, and Paul Rubin, MD volunteered their time to navigate the huge and hectic convention. Jim Loomis, Karen’s husband, also gave his time to go.

Sutent approved in Canada

Pfizer Canada announced May 31, 2006 that its oral multi-targeted agent, SUTENT (sunitinib malate) has been approved by Health Canada for the treatment of gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST) after failure of imatinib mesylate treatment due to intolerance or resistance.