GIST News A Wave of Information By the LIFE RAFT GROUP

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June 2011

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  • Mutational testing & survival: where we stand by Jerry Call Only six percent of GIST patients in the United States take advantage of testing that could be used to individualize their treatment according to a new article in the Annals of Oncology. Dr. Peter Pisters of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas and his colleagues reported results of the GIST reGISTry...
  • Alianza GIST meets for second time in Brazil by Sara Rothschild

    At the end of 2009, The Life Raft Group proudly announced the foundation of an important initiative, the Latin American GIST Coalition, now called Alianza GIST. Currently comprised of twelve countries, this group of patient advocates from across Latin America has formed a partnership dedicated to improving the survival and lives of GIST patients in Latin America.

  • A spotlight Dr. Linyee Shum by Diana Nieves Dr. Linyee Shum’s career path began the moment he was born. It appeared he was destined to be an engineer and was encouraged to pursue it since early childhood. He even majored in mechanical engineering during his freshmen year of college....
  • The connection between ICCs & GIST by Alon Hawkins Where does GIST come from? Good question. GIST actually begins formation in special cells called interstitial cells of Cajal (ICCs). ICCs are considered the pace-makers of the GI tract...
  • State of the GIST Community Part 3: What do we know about mutational testing? by Magda Sarnas As of May 1, 2011, the LRG patient registry only received 377 reports of mutations out of 1,327 patients, which only represents 28 percent of the entire registry. Part of this may be related to the fact that mutational testing is not common practice at diagnosis...
  • Healthcare 2011 and beyond: Part 3 by Diana Nieves

    In our last newsletter, we covered some resources available to you to cover your prescription drugs outside of Medicare, in this last article in the series, we will look at pharmaceutical company assistance.

  • Swiss are back at it with 8th annual meeting by Helga Schnorf Approximately 90 GIST patients, relatives, GIST experts, interested professionals, physicians and representatives of the pharmaceutical industry gathered in Zurich on April 8, 2011 for the eighth meeting of the Swiss GIST group in the Restaurant Au Premier at Zurich Main Station (HB Zürich).
  • GIST, my friend: How to live with this chronic disease day-to-day by Dr. Phillipe Fontaine "Acceptance – for me that means trying to live as positively and naturally as possible by thinking of cancer as a friend and not as an enemy!"
  • Steve “Da Yooper” Bashaw passes peacefully at 59
  • Camaraderie flourishes at New Horizons meeting in Amsterdam Check out some pictures of the annual international patient summit, New Horzons.
  • Science & Surprises abound at NJ GISTers meeting! by Anita Getler On May 7, we held the NJ Chapter Meeting of GISTers at the LRG Office in Wayne, NJ. It was a great gathering of patients, caregivers, LRG staff members and our guest speaker ,Dr. Bob Maki of Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York.
  • Chicago-area GISTers meet!
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