title: FDG-PET to Measure Response to Targeted Therapy: The Example of Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor and Imatinib Mesylate (Gleevec).
abstract: Imaging has played a major role in the evaluation of molecular targeted therapies in patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors. FDG-PET has been instrumental in the evaluation of the tyrosine kinase inhibitors used to treat this disease. Imaging findings on FDG-PET and CT have illustrated the need to re-evaluate traditional response assessment criteria. Because most PET studies are now performed on hybrid PET/CT scanners, there is an opportunity to test and validate existing and new PET tracers and to provide anatomic and functional information in one setting. The inclusion of imaging in the testing and implementation of targeted therapies is helping to define the concept of personalized medicine.
authors.affiliation: Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Radiology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, 44 Binney Street, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Center for Biomedical Imaging in Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA; Tumor Imaging Metrics Core, Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: abbeele@dfci.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Annick D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Van den Abbeele
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Sisli Etfal Training and Research Hospital, Şişli 34360, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ertuk
keywords: Computed tomography (CT); F-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG); Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST); Imatinib mesylate; Monitoring of therapeutic response; Positron emission tomography (PET); Sunitinib malate