15 Years-15 Wishes for 2018 from the Life Raft Group
As we celebrate our 15th year as a non-profit, we at the Life Raft Group would like to share 15 wishes we have for the New Year. Won’t you help us make [...]
GIST Day of Learning Miami 2016 Rosenberg
Pathology and the Role of Mutational Testing featuring Dr. Andrew E. Rosenberg. GDOLs are smaller group events held throughout the year in cities nationwide. These events focus on helping patients and caregivers learn more about [...]
Mutational Analysis of GISTs: How, When, and Why
Please join us for an afternoon of learning about the importance of and the science behind mutational testing with pathologist and GIST specialist, Dr. Christopher Corless of Portland's Oregon Health and Science University. This [...]
LRG patient registry: powerful tool for patients, physicians and researchers
The time it takes between the appearance of first symptoms of a rare disease and when the correct diagnosis is given, is often years if not decades instead of days or weeks like it is [...]
Personalized Medicine – Another Look
The issue of personalized medicine, also referred to as "precision medicine" in the article, was addressed in a newsletter article by LRG Executive Director Norman Scherzer in February. We hope to follow up with more articles on the topic soon.
LRG & colleagues make their mark on 17th annual CTOS meeting in Prague
Representatives from the Life Raft Group recently traveled to Prague, Czech Republic to attend the annual Connective Tissue Oncology Society (CTOS) meeting. CTOS is an international group comprised of physicians and scientists with a primary interest in the tumors of connective tissues.
Mutational & Plasma Testing Presented by Jerry Call
Here is a presentation from Life Fest 2012 by LRG Science Director Jerry Call on the topic of Mutational & Plasma Testing.
Mutation Types
Learn about various mutation types. There are several types of gene mutations that can lead to Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors. These include KIT mutations, PDGFRA mutations and BRAF and SDH mutations. As each of these involves [...]
Mutational and Plasma Testing 101
Mutational testing determines whether you have a mutation present in your tumor, and what genotype it is. Examples include Exon 11 or 9 (for KIT positive tumors), Platelet Driven Growth Factor Receptor Alpha (PDGFRA), or [...]
State of the GIST Community Part 3: What do we know about mutational testing?
As of May 1, 2011, the LRG patient registry only received 377 reports of mutations out of 1,327 patients, which only represents 28 percent of the entire registry. Part of this may be related to the fact that mutational testing is not common practice at diagnosis.