title: Can D-Dimer Measurement Reduce the Frequency of Radiological Assessment in Patients Receiving Palliative Imatinib for Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor (GIST)?
abstract: Imatinib therapy has improved outcomes in advanced GISTs. Current guidelines suggest monitoring with CT scanning every 12 weeks. There are no validated biomarkers to assist disease evaluation. We identified 50 patients treated with imatinib for GIST in a single tertiary center. We assessed the prognostic value of D-dimers by Cox regression, and the utility as a biomarker for radiological progression (rPD) using receiver-operator curve (ROC) analysis. In asymptomatic patients with D-dimer levels <1,000 and falling levels, the negative predictive value for rPD was 92%. D-dimers may reduce the burden of CT scanning in a proportion of patients in this setting.
authors.affiliation: a Cancer Research Unit, Clinical Trials Unit , University of Warwick , Coventry , UK.
authors.forename: Mehran
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Afshar
authors.affiliation: b Faculty of Medicine & Health , University of Leeds , Leeds , UK.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hamilton
authors.affiliation: b Faculty of Medicine & Health , University of Leeds , Leeds , UK.|c St James's Institute of Oncology , Leeds Teaching Hospitals , Leeds , UK.
authors.forename: Jenny
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Seligmann
authors.affiliation: d University Department of Medical Oncology, Churchill Hospital , Oxford , UK.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lord
authors.affiliation: b Faculty of Medicine & Health , University of Leeds , Leeds , UK.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Baxter
authors.affiliation: c St James's Institute of Oncology , Leeds Teaching Hospitals , Leeds , UK.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marples
authors.affiliation: b Faculty of Medicine & Health , University of Leeds , Leeds , UK.|c St James's Institute of Oncology , Leeds Teaching Hospitals , Leeds , UK.
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Stark
authors.affiliation: b Faculty of Medicine & Health , University of Leeds , Leeds , UK.|e Edinburgh Cancer Research Centre , University of Edinburgh , Edinburgh , UK.
authors.forename: Peter S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Hall
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D005338:Fibrin Fibrinogen Degradation Products / Q000032:analysis*; D046152:Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D000068877:Imatinib Mesylate / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000379:methods; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012372:ROC Curve; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D005338:Fibrin Fibrinogen Degradation Products; C036309:fibrin fragment D; D000068877:Imatinib Mesylate
keywords: Biomarker; D-dimer; GIST; Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor