Hi there!
I am currently receiving pembromizulab (abbreviated pembro, but the brand name is Keytruda, an immunotherapy drug originally approved for lung cancer (xcr)) for an undifferentiated polymorphic sarcoma (UPS). It is a stage IIIb, high grade, poorly differentiated soft tissue sarcoma (STS). I go to the UCSF sarcoma medical oncology program. (San Francisco). My oncologist, Varun Monga, is part of a Phase III trial with pembro. The use of pembro for STS is not FDC approved yet as a standard sarcoma treatment, but my insurers (Medicare and Blue Cross of California) approved the special use for me. So far, so good. I have now had 7 treatments since Dec 30, 2024 once every three weeks. 5 more to go. No metastases. (So I don't qualify for the trial, but sarcomas are known for their aggressive ability to metastasize, especially to the lungs.) No side effects for me, although I understand that a common side effect is diarrhea. Better than all your hair falling out, nausea, weakness etc from chemo. Been there, done that 20 years ago for breast xcr. (I'm now 71 yo.) But if you have to go that route, please bear with it. My STS was most likely caused by the radiation therapy I received in 2005--but don't let the radiation therapy you received be a worry. I weighed the risks of having add'l radition this time around and overall, I believe it to be a good route to go in order to eliminate any remaining xcr cells (after surgery) as well as an effective tumor-reducing treatment b4 any surgery or chemo.
If your local oncologist cannot get Keytruda for you, or doesn't believe it is a valid treatment for you, respect his or her opinion, but you can research the NIH for the pembro trial using keywords, or here is a link to the UCSF trial
https://clinicaltrials.ucsf.edu/trial/NCT06422806
Best of everything for you. Feel free to reply with any specific Qs you have. I hope I haven't thrown too much info out there for you. Get used to all the acronyms and abbreviations!