A new study at the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that some people with early stage cancers can skip surgery after being treated with the Dostarlimab immunotherapy medicine.
In the study, 82 of 103 participants responded so well to the medication that they no longer needed an operation.
The Sloan Kettering Cancer Memorial, located in Manhattan, New York, is shown on September 14, 2017.
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While the results are promising, the study was conducted in a single hospital, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, and some patients have not been sufficient time to know if their cancer could return over time.
And because the study included many different types of cancer, there were relatively few patients with each type of specific cancer, which makes it difficult to interpret the results for larger patients.
He also focused on a very select type of patient whose tumors had a “mismatch repair defect”, a genetic problem that prevents cells from fixing DNA damage and makes it more likely to respond to immunotherapy.
“They selected themselves, since they had a specific genetic alteration, and that genetic alteration occurs around 2% to 3% of all cancer patients,” said Dr. Luis Díaz, one of the authors of the study and head of the solid tumor oncology division in MSKCC.
When people are diagnosed with early stage cancers that form a lump or mass, they often need major surgery to try to eliminate it, and despite surgery, they can also face aggressive treatments such as chemotherapy or radiation.
Because these cancers often affect the organs in the belly or digestive system, surgery can have a great impact on the life of a patient. Some people lose part or all their esophagus or stomach, which makes it difficult or impossible to eat normally. Others may need a bag to collect stools or lose the ability to get pregnant.
The 49 patients with early rectal cancer who received six months of immunotherapy could avoid surgery.
“And it is after six months of treatment, his tumors had gone completely,” said another of the study authors, Dr. Andrea Cercek, head of the Colorectal Section in MSKCC. “They didn’t need any other treatment.”
Two years later, 92% remained free of cancer. Among the first group to reach the five -year brand, the four patients were still free of disease, and two of them had had two children each.
“The surprising thing is that they could not have conceived or transport children if they had gone through standard therapy,” said Diaz.
As for patients with other early stage cancers, 35 of 54 were cancer free after undergoing immunotherapy and could avoid surgery. However, two patients still chose to proceed with surgery, one for tranquility and the other to eliminate cancer -related medical hardware.
Of the five patients whose cancers returned, most were successfully treated again.
Cercek explained that, although immunotherapy alone may not help most cancer patients to avoid surgery, their work opens the door for the future.
“Simply close your eyes and imagine that one day cancer diagnoses him and does not have his esophagus or his stomach or his straight or his bladder, and can avoid it,” Diaz said. “For these 3% we can completely eliminate the need for surgery. It is quite transformative.”
When combining different approaches with this type of immunotherapy, Cercek hoped they could replicate their success in more types of cancer.
“Then, we continue this essay and we are working to expand the study outside the monument with more patients so that we can offer this therapy as a standard of care,” said Cercek.
In Rochester, the ABC news unit, contained by the report.
