Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumours Knowledge Centre

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Prognosis

Goals of Therapy

The overall goal of therapy for GIST patients is to eliminate or reduce the tumour burden and maintain tumour control. The goal of surgery in treatment of primary resectable GIST is complete resection of the mass without disruption of the commonly present pseudocapsule and achieving negative margins.^1,2 The goals of Glivec therapy in advanced GIST include:

• Tumour size reduction or disease stabilization, both of which result in prolonged survival in the pivotal B2222 trial^3,4
• Reduction of tumour density (by CT) and metabolic activity (by FDG-PET)¹
  

References:

1. Blay JY, Bonvalot S, Casali P, et al. Consensus meeting for the management of gastrointestinal stromal tumors. Report of the GIST Consensus Conference of 20-21 March 2004, under the auspices of European Society for Medical Oncology. Ann Oncol. 2005;16:566-578.
2. Reichardt P. Optimising therapy for GIST patients. Eur J Cancer. 2006;4(suppl 1):19-26.
3. Demetri G, von Mehren M, Joensuu H, et al. Long-term clinical outcomes of imatinib treatment in patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors. J Clin Oncol. Manuscript submitted.
4. Blanke CD, Demetri G, von Mehren M, et al. Long-term follow-up of a phase II randomized trial in advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) patients (pts) treated with imatinib mesylate [abstract]. J Clin Oncol. 2006;24:526s. Abstract 9528.

GIST Management

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