A Long-term Prospective Population Pharmacokinetic Study on Imatinib Plasma Concentrations in GIST Patients

Abstract

This is the first prospective pharmacokinetic study in patients with GIST, showing a significant decrease of approximately 30% in imatinib exposure after long-term treatment. This means that future "trough level - clinical benefit" analyses should be time point specific. GIST liver involvement, however, has a marginal effect on imatinib clearance.