Immunotherapy after Keytruda adverse reaction

[Cici145]

Hi! My mom has st4 nsclc with Mets to the brain. She had one dose of Keytruda but ended up with Pnemonitis and on 15L of oxygen. She has thankfully recovered (mostly-still on 2L of oxygen). They are now ready to restart treatment and we’re waiting to hear what it will be. My question is has anyone been on another immunotherapy after an adverse reaction to Keytruda? Or done Keytruda again after an adverse reaction? Thanks in advance.

[Denzie Moderator Volunteer]

Opdivo, the only other immunotherapy approved for lung cancer at this time, also causes pneumonitis. I’m not a doctor so please don’t take my word as final. I think it’s unlikely that they’ll risk pneumonitis again.

However, it can’t hurt to ask and a lower dose as part of a doublet with a traditional chemo may not be out of line.

[GMC1]

My husband had 2 doses of Opdivo and the same thing happened to him plus blood clots in his lungs.

He had to be weaned off oxygen and learn to walk again. They said the tumor had started to reduce. That was a yearand half ago. He then went on Keytruda with no ill effects but they saw no improvement so added chemo which he has not tolerated too well. Scan this last week, waiting for results.

[ThePurplePlace]

As a patient who also developed Pneumonitis while on "Opdivo" another Immunotherpay med, they were very reluctant to allow me to retry it again. My Pneumonitis was low grade, I never needed oxygen or steroid and it did clear after taking treatment breaks, so I was also lucky in that way. I also had reached Stable in my treatments, so I was allowed to stop treatment and have happily remained stable since.

I did ask where we would go next and two things were mentioned -- going back to chemo and trying one I had not been on before (I was on Carbo and Alimta) and also looking into Clinical trails. Ultimately as long as there are more options, that made me feel better.

You'll have to meet with your Mom's Onc and go from there! Good Luck!

Lisa