Letter to the Editor Long-term outcome of GIST patients treated with delayed imatinib therapy Amina Kurtovic-Kozaric a,b, * ,1 , Amina Kugic b,1 , Azra Hasic b , Semir Beslija c , Timur Ceric c , Anes Pasic c , Semir Vranic a , Dijana Kopric d , Ermina Iljazovic e , Jelena Todorovic Barbuscia f , Mirza Kozaric b , Nermina Ibisevic a , Leila Keskic g , Sabira Kurtovic h a Department of Pathology, Cytology and Human Genetics, Clinical Center of the University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina b Department of Genetics, Section of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina c Department of Oncology, Clinical Center of the University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina d Oncology Clinic, University Clinical Center Tuzla, Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina e Department of Pathology, University Clinical Center Tuzla, Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina f Department of Pathology, Cytology and Forensic Medicine, University Clinical Hospital Mostar, Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina g Department of Genetics and Bioengineering, International Burch University, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina h Hematology Clinic, Clinical Center of the University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina Received 28 November 2016; received in revised form 3 February 2017; accepted 23 March 2017 KEYWORDS Gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST); Targeted therapy; Outcome; Developing country; Imatinib The introduction of imatinib substantially improved the outcome of gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST) patients [1e4]. Even though imatinib has improved the treatment of GIST, its availability in underdeveloped and developing countries like Argentina, Brazil or Bosnia has been limited because of financial consider- ations and lack of insurance coverage [5,6]. Due to the limited number of available imatinib therapies, many GIST patients did not receive the drug. Over the years, the number of imatinib therapies gradually increased, but never so that all GIST patients were treated with * Corresponding author: Department of Pathology, Cytology and Human Genetics, Clinical Center of the University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Fax: þ387 33 298 364. E-mail addresses: amina.kozaric@kcus.ba, amina.kurtovic@gmail. com (A. Kurtovic-Kozaric). 1 These authors contributed equally to this work. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejca.2017.03.024 0959-8049/ª 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.ejcancer.com European Journal of Cancer 78 (2017) 118e121