This is from the American Society for Clinical Oncology Reading room 12/15/18 summarizing Research trials for Immunotherapy in melanoma brain metastases. It does include looking at patients who also had exposure for radiation and BRAF and Mek in the cohorts.
medpagetoday.com/reading-ro...
missy
Thank you for that! We are moving to Boston area this month and my daughter has an appointment at Mass General in the melanoma clinic. They do clinical trials there which is exciting. I’ll try to check in and let you know how it goes.
This article did confirm for me that a better protocol once the metastasis starts, maybe even at stage 3 or at initial diagnosis of stage 3, would be to start the inhibitors. For my daughter the immunotherapy was not enough to stop the progression, then she had radiation on her pelvis, then brain, And then we started chemo. I think the radiation did more harm than good basically, in her case. It didn’t stop the progression, it made her bones brittle and now she has fractures in pelvis and tailbone. The brain radiation compounded The nausea, vomiting, memory loss symptoms and she is just now, 5 months later, having a reduction in nausea and vomiting and tolerating the chemo better. So if we had to do it all over again, I would have said no to radiation and yes to chemo sooner.
Let us know how the consult at Mass General goes.
I have loved Boston every time I've visited, so I hope that you find Boston to be a good fit for your family.
missy
It's a start and gives hope. I'm sure they're going to one day be able to keep this disease as a long term but manageable cancer.
