• 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 the European Society of Medical […]

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  • 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. Patients taking thes drugs or […]

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  • Warning: Gleevec heart effects

    Novartis issued a letter to US health professionals on October 19, 2006 regarding the small risk of congestive heart failure from imatinib (Gleevec). The letter is posted on the website of the FDA (link to letter). The Prescribing Information document has also been updated to include the new warning. See our earlier news story for […]

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  • 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 different drugs (such as imatinib […]

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  • 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 scans for soft tissue sarcoma […]

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  • 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. They heard lectures, spent time […]

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  • 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.

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  • Searchable online Canadian database of health product adverse reactions

    You can read the descriptive news story or go directly to the database.

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  • Novartis GIST Registry

    Help Novartis Oncology collect information from doctors on the diagnosis and management of GIST via doctor participation in a GIST Registry. Print a brochure about the GIST Registry to bring to your doctor.

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  • ESMO GIST/Sarcoma meeting

    On May 17-18, 2006 the European Society for Medical Oncology is sponsoring an International Symposium on Sarcoma and GIST, held in Milan, Italy. World experts will discuss translation of new knowledge into better diagnostic and prognostic procedures for patients and potential new targets for treatment. Link to a story on Medical News Today and stay […]

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