In April of 2014, The Life Raft Group partnered with the National Institutes of Health to launch the first Pediatric GIST Virtual Tumor Board. Just one year later, the Life Raft Group announced that our Virtual GIST Tumor Boards were so successful within the global Pediatric GIST community that we expanded our applications to review adult GIST, as well as the global patient community.

The purpose of the Virtual GIST Tumor Board is to bring together leading experts to discuss GIST cases, while serving as an educational resource for local physicians. If selected, doctors of GIST patients are able to log on and review their de-identified patient case with a panel of experts by using the internet, secure severs, and video conferencing software. Participants will virtually access radiology films such as CT scans and other necessary medical reports to help review the particular case and provide advice.

The Board also provides valuable access for patients and doctors who would ordinarily not be able to attend an in-person NIH clinic due to resources or distance. The Virtual GIST Tumor Board would not only inform the local doctors of the most up-to-date treatment options, trials, and studies, applicable to their patient, but it also encourages a collaborative effort of GIST experts from around the world. The collaboration and educated, individualized discussions ensure the best care is offered to patients under evaluation.

Physicians

If you are a physician interested in presenting your patient’s case to the Virtual Tumor Board, or joining our panel as a GIST expert, please contact us or 973-687-1059.

Patients

If you are a patient, and in our LRG Patient Registry and would like your case reviewed by a team of experts in a future Virtual GIST Tumor Board, please contact us or 973-687-1059 or fill out the form below for consideration.

If you are not currently a member of the Life Raft Group Patient Registry, please fill out this form:

If you need further information on our Virtual Tumor Boards/NIH Pediatric & Wildtype Clinic, please contact Sara Rothschild, VP Program Services, srothschild@liferaftgroup.org or call her at 973-687-1059 between 9-4pm ET.