GIST is classically operated upon and thought to be cured by surgery. Unfortunately more and more clinicians are finding that patients have recurrence of disease. Nowadays, there are way to find possible recurrence risk rates, and treat accordingly.
If a patient has a high to moderate risk of recurrence, then they must be offered Imatinib (Glivec or Gleevec). The duration of treatment continues to be a matter of discussion - most people agree for one (1) year of treatment, but there is now data to show that three (3) years of treatment is necessary.
I suspect that treatment would be needed for long term (much longer than three years), as the survival curves at one year and three year of treatment are quite similar, when treatment is stopped.
The important thing is to ask your surgeon to consider Imatinib therapy or refer you to a MedicalOncologist for discussion.
- taken from my older blog
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