I've been on Imbruvica for almost three years, my blood numbers went to normal within a few months, the side effects were tolerable, the main thing was that I was always exhausted. Any way yesterday, I thought I had a respiratory infection and went to the Emergency room, and it turns out both lungs show cancer. Then later in the day my dermatologist calls and the biopsy from last week shows a MALIGNANT MELANOMA- HISTOLOGIC SUBTYPE: MALIGNANT BLUE; SPINDLED.
Both of these seemingly grew very rapidly, as the melanoma was not present at my exam 6 months ago, and I get frequent x-rays and cat scans for other issues and the lung problem didn't appear in the recent past.
Anyone have experience with Imbruvica wrecking your immune system and making you more vulnerable to other cancers?
Just curious.
Written by
taffy2020
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I am so sorry you have another cancer to worry about. They found a spot outside my lung however it turned out not to be cancer. That was before I started treatment.
I am so sorry to hear about your new cancer. It must be very distressing for you.
I am now almost 2 1/2 year on Ibrutinib and feel great, and my blood tests have been very good. But I do have a problem with constant pre-cancerous spots emerging, primarily on my face, and on two occasions there was a cancerous spot that had to be operated. I do believe the Ibrutinib is making me more susceptible to skin cancer. Right now, I saw the dermatologist on Tuesday and came back with three new spots burned off, and an agreement to come back end of March to see how another spot is developing. But none of that is of serious consequence (yet) and not comparable to what you are going through now.
Take care and I hope they found it early enough to be able to deal with it effectively and swiftly.
i don't know whether or not Ib can cause cskin ancer. I do know, however, that well before starting to take Ibrutinib, my hematologist referred me for yearly dermatologist appointments for head to toe skin checks looking for any signs of skin cancer. After 8 years on Ib, no signs of skin cancer (knock on wood).
The CLL itself wrecks your immune system, making you more vulnerable to other cancers. Various treatments we use to treat the CLL may affect the incidence since they further affect our immunity, but the primary driver seems to be the CLL itself. People are studying the rates of secondary cancers with the various treatments. Part of the problem is, we only have people whose cancer is untreated, or those who got treatment, in the statistics. Those who refused treatment/died from their CLL or other cancer by necessity aren't included. So IMO the takeaway is, just having this diagnosis means we need to be mindful of the potential of secondaries. And that *any* treatment can further suppress our immune system, so the incidence will be higher.
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