Should Doctors Offer Immunotherapy To Terminal Cancer Patients? Some Are Rolling The Dice
The chance immunotherapy will help some patients is small — but not zero. “Under rules of desperation oncology, you engage in a different kind of oncology than the rational guideline thought,” says Dr. Oliver Sartor. Other doctors won't even bring up the treatment though, arguing that scientists first must gather rigorous evidence about the benefits and pitfalls.
The New York Times:
‘Desperation Oncology’: When Patients Are Dying, Some Cancer Doctors Turn To Immunotherapy
Dr. Oliver Sartor has a provocative question for patients who are running out of time. Most are dying of prostate cancer. They have tried every standard treatment, to no avail. New immunotherapy drugs, which can work miracles against a few types of cancer, are not known to work for this kind. Still, Dr. Sartor, assistant dean for oncology at Tulane Medical School, asks a diplomatic version of this: Do you want to try an immunotherapy drug before you die? (Kolata, 4/26)
In other news —
The New York Times:
A Lifesaving Pump For Cancer Patients Is Being Phased Out
A medical device that can add years to the lives of cancer patients is about to become unavailable, because its manufacturer has decided to stop producing it. The device, the size of a hockey puck, is implanted in the abdomen to pump high doses of chemotherapy directly into the liver for cancer that has spread there, usually from colon or rectal tumors. The treatment can help prevent tumors from recurring after they are removed from the liver, and can shrink inoperable growths in the liver so that they can be cut out. (Grady and Kaplan, 4/25)
Kaiser Health News:
‘Rapid Autopsy’ Programs Seek Clues To Cancer Within Hours Of Death
After Keith Beck died of bile duct cancer last year, family members said more than 900 people showed up to pay respects to the popular athletic director at the University of Findlay in northwestern Ohio. Many were former students who recalled acts of kindness during Beck’s nearly 30-year career: $20 given to a kid who was broke, textbooks bought for a student whose parents were going through bankruptcy, a spot cleared to sleep on Beck’s living room floor. (Aleccia, 4/26)
