We were referred to you because you are known to be the best with gist tumors. However you are not part of our insurance network. My husband had a 5 inch gist tumor removed 2 years ago. He was on gleevic and sutent. The sutent was terrible. Dr Loehrer in Indianapolis took him off of all medicines and told him to have cat scans done every 6 months. 6 mongths ago, the scan came back negative. He had his 2nd scan 2 weeks ago and the tumors are back. He has more than 1 this time. The largest 1 is 3 inches. Dr. David Taber told us that surgery is not an option because that can't guarantee that they could get them all. The are putting him back on gleevic. Is there any other advice you could give us? I am so fearful
Dr. Margaret von Mehren is an Associate Member of the Department of Medical Oncology and Director of the Sarcoma Program at Fox Chase Cancer Center. Dr. von Mehren received her degree in Biology from Georgetown University and her medical degree from Albany Medical College. She completed her internship and residency in Internal Medicine at New York University Medical Center/Bellvue in New York. She then completed a fellowship in Medical Oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center. Dr. von Mehren is board certified in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology. She leads the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group's Sarcoma Working Group and is a vice-chair of the US-Canada Sarcoma Intergroup.
Dr. von Mehren has written and published on sarcoma as well as immunotherapy. She is a principal investigator of the ongoing GIST trials lead by the American College of Surgeons and the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group. She collaborates with Dr. Andrew Godwin at Fox Chase Cancer Center to better understand the differences between GIST tumors that respond to Gleevec and those that do not. They are developing studies to evaluate other drugs that may also be effective for GIST patients.
