February 2012
- Routine mutational and plasma level testing: The time has come
- Editorial: When is enough, enough?
- Life Fest 2008: There's still time!
- MSK team finds rare new mutation
- September 2008 international clinical trial update
- How long must dying patients wait for justice?
- Website of Worth
- Gleevec receives FDA priority review as first therapy to reduce recurrence of GI stromal tumors after surgery
- Keeley Bihr: Remembering a mountain man
- Devoted wife, mother and volunteer passes
- Family, history and cars made it a colorful life for Jan-Einar
- Fight ends with family by her side
- What's in a name?
- Search and shop for a cause
- LRG says goodbye to summer intern
- Did you see the LRG on PerezHilton.com?
- GISTers gather in Northern California
- Calendar
September 2008
- Routine mutational and plasma level testing: The time has come by Norman Scherzer The case for routine mutational testing of GIST patients at diagnosis seems compelling to the patient community and to a select number of GIST specialists who have begun integrating this into their medical practice. The relationships between mutational status and the treatment of GIST with imatinib, sunitinib and other drugs continue to be documented. It seems quite clear, for example, that exon 11 patients respond better to imatinib and that exon 9 patients respond better to sunitinib; furthermore, that exon 9 patients treated with imatinib respond better to higher doses.
- Editorial: When is enough, enough? by Jodi Merry An August 19 article of The New York Times was published about the treatment of cancer and knowing when there are no more options. Doctors and patients alike find themselves asking the question “When is enough, enough?”
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Life Fest 2008: There's still time!
by Nicole Burke
This year’s Life Fest is on course to be the best one yet. Not only is it coming at a crucial point in the battle against GIST, but it is full of new workshops as well as some old favorites. Dr. Lee Helman will be our distinguished guest and the recipient of the LRG Humanitarian Award.
- MSK team finds rare new mutation by Jerry Call Researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York have found a rare mutation in some GIST tumors. In a series of 61 patients with wild-type GIST, they found that three of them (5%) had mutations in a gene called BRAF. This same mutation, a “V600E” mutation in exon 15 of the BRAF gene, occurs frequently in melanoma. They also found the same mutation in one of 28 GIST patients that were resistant to Gleevec.
- September 2008 international clinical trial update by Jim Hughes
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How long must dying patients wait for justice?
by Erin Kristoff
In a recent edition of the Wall Street Journal, Gregory Conko, Director of Food Safety Policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, an advocacy group based in Washington DC, wrote an opinion piece entitled, “Sick Patients Need Cutting-Edge Drugs”. The event that inspired this passionate and demanding article was the death of 13-year old Anna Tomalis. Anna battled a rare form of liver cancer called embryonal sarcoma since September 2005. On August 15, 2008, she lost that battle.
- Website of Worth by Nicole Burke Keeping track of daily responsibilities can be difficult enough, but add cancer to the mix and it can be nearly impossible. The website Lotsa Helping Hands is a free service, offered through the Lance Armstrong Foundation, that organizes your loved ones that are ready and willing to help with your care.
- Gleevec receives FDA priority review as first therapy to reduce recurrence of GI stromal tumors after surgery East Hanover, August 27, 2008 — Novartis announced today that Gleevec® (imatinib mesylate) tablets has been granted priority review status by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as the first therapy to be reviewed for use after surgery in kit-positive gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST).
- Keeley Bihr: Remembering a mountain man by Scott Snyder Keeley Bihr of Albuquerque, New Mexico died on July 26, 2008 after a courageous two-year battle against GIST. He was thirty-six years old. The following text is from a talk given by his close friend, Scott Snyder, of Boise, ID at a Life Celebration on July 31.
- Devoted wife, mother and volunteer passes L. Rose Ellis, 82, of Crystal River FL, formerly of Sudbury for 30 yrs, died July 25 in No. Andover.
- Family, history and cars made it a colorful life for Jan-Einar by Havard Moe Everything has it’s time. Also a life. Jan-Einar Moe passed away peacefully at hospital on July 8, surrounded by his loved ones. Jan-Einar was born on February 18, 1945 in Oslo, where he lived his whole life.
- Fight ends with family by her side Linda Regar Martinez, 54, passed away peacefully with her family at her side after a long, courageous battle with cancer on Aug. 4, 2008.
- What's in a name?
- Search and shop for a cause by Matthew Mattioli Did you ever wish that shopping could help out a cause like the Life Raft Group? Well now it can with the help of iGive and Goodshop.
- LRG says goodbye to summer intern Thursday, the LRG bid a fond farewell to Khushabu Kasabwala, the LRG summer ntern, who returns for her senior year as a physiology major at Boston University.
- Did you see the LRG on PerezHilton.com? by Matthew Mattioli Celebrity gossip blogger, “Perez Hilton” has begun a new practice on his site, PerezHilton.com.
- GISTers gather in Northern California Six GIST patients and their spouses met in Sunnyvale, California for an interesting afternoon of story exchanges on Saturday August 16, 2008
- Calendar