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Below, week by week, is what OnCo's record of KIT exon 11-mutant GIST says about the first two months: the order is typical, the timing is yours to ask about. Most GISTs are driven by a mutation in exon 11 of the KIT gene, which keeps the KIT growth receptor switched on. Imatinib blocks it: given for three years after surgery in higher-risk tumours it prevents relapse and extends life, and in metastatic disease it controls the tumour for years before resistance develops. Sections appear only where the record has something to say. Orientation, not medical advice.
Staging tests establish exactly what and where the cancer is. Everything else follows from the answers.
Ask which of these were tested and what the results were; see the report reader for what each value means.
These specialties appear in the standard of care for this cancer. In most centres they meet weekly as a tumour board to agree each plan; you can ask when yours was discussed and what was decided.
A second opinion from a centre that treats many similar cases is normal, not rude; the standard of care tells you what to compare it against.
Each row is a setting from the standard of care, in the order it usually arises. Not all will apply to you; your stage and biomarkers decide which do. The guideline grade, where recorded, says how strong the evidence is.
Complete surgical resection without lymphadenectomy; laparoscopic for smaller gastric tumours; neoadjuvant imatinib for large or poorly placed tumours.
Three years of adjuvant imatinib 400 mg (SSG XVIII); trials of longer courses.
Imatinib 400 mg continued until progression, with CT response assessment by Choi criteria.
Dose escalation to 800 mg, then sunitinib, regorafenib and ripretinib, ideally guided by the secondary mutation on circulating tumour DNA.
Generated from this cancer's standard of care, biomarkers and open problems. Take the group that matches where you are. To tick, add your own and print, open the one-page appointment sheet.
Trials open now for this cancer in OnCo, largest phase first. Joining a trial is a decision like any other: ask what the comparison arm is, whether a placebo is used, and what happens if you leave. The cancer page searches ClinicalTrials.gov live for more.
Much of what helps in the first weeks is free if you know to ask: testing, helplines, rides and lodging, second opinions, trial travel.
Every term links to the glossary.