Potential benefits of neoadjuvant radiotherapy prior to "en bloc" compartmental resection of pure retroperitoneal liposarcomas.

Retroperitoneal liposarcomas(RPL) are rare malignant tumors, accounting for approximately 15% of soft tissue sarcomas and 0.07-0.2% of all cancers.

Therapeutic Drug Monitoring of Imatinib: Is There a Rationale for Also Quantifying Its Active Metabolite?

Introduction: Therapeutic drug monitoring of imatinib is widely performed to individualize imatinib dosage. While N-desmethyl imatinib is an active metabolite of imatinib, its concentrations are not routinely determined.

Methods: Imatinib and N-desmethyl imatinib trough plasma concentrations at steady-state were obtained from 295 patients with either chronic myeloid leukemia or gastrointestinal stromal tumor to see whether N-desmethyl imatinib provided additional information.