Margaret von Mehren, MD, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA, discusses to work being done to establish the optimal treatment approach for the management of patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST). A number of recent FDA approvals have led to questions over the best way to sequence these new agents and several studies are underway assessing this. The management of GIST was revolutionized by the introduction of imatinib, which now represents the standard of care in unresectable or metastatic disease. Despite this, disease progression remains a problem, and more data on how to manage secondary resistance is needed. Dr von Mehren highlights ongoing work looking into novel treatment approaches in the setting of imatinib refractory GIST. This interview took place at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2021 Virtual Meeting.
