Connect
← Return to Should I take Nivolumab for stage 2B nodular melanoma at age 75?
Discussion
Should I take Nivolumab for stage 2B nodular melanoma at age 75?
Melanoma & Skin Cancer | Last Active: 13 hours ago | Replies (20)Comment receiving replies
@grammato3 My tumor is graded IIb or IIc. There was a difference in two pathology reports and my oncologist is going with IIb for now. They did not find a sentinel lymph node after two attempts with injecting tracer. The reason for his saying there is no evidence of higher survival rates is that he is referring to no clinical data or trials with just immunotherapy vs. no treatment for this stage of melanoma. One reason is that using the new drugs is fairly recent so there’s not much long term data. You are right about longer lifespans and even cure but that is not for just immunotherapy alone, it seems. The patients who have recurrence or advanced stage cancer would have additional treatments like T-cell therapy, surgery, radiation etc. depending where the cancer was. Since I’m NED after they removed the tumor my only treatment option right now is immunotherapy and there’s no data showing that by itself that would give me longer life. It would give me more time before recurrence if I had recurrence at all, but if I chose no treatment to start with then I could still get the advanced treatments if it recurred. I was surprised with this and it really makes me think about risks and benefits of starting immunotherapy now. My oncologist is chairman of the Melanoma center at MDAnderson, one of the top cancer centers in the world so I assume he knows his stuff. He has already laid out the details for follow up blood tests, scans, etc for either choosing treatment or not.
Replies to "@grammato3 My tumor is graded IIb or IIc. There was a difference in two pathology reports..."
Connect
@joetex: Thank you for providing the circumstances of your treatment to date that definitely does change the role of immunotherapy in consideration of the current status of NED and age. I'd not been aware you have already undergone treatment for your melanoma - and that it was successful; what a relief that must be!
Research has demonstrated that those who have such findings for this type and stage of melanoma generally have a high rate of of 5 year survivorship with standard monitoring. Although immunotherapy may help with reducing the risk of recurrence even more, your oncologist did note that studies to date have not yielded findings in those who underwent adjuvant immunotherapy (after removal) were statistically significant findings in improvement.
As you have pointed out, this is why it is so important to be armed with clear knowledge about the type and extent of one's medical presentation as there are so many different types of melanoma and associated treatment modalities that can be discussed and understood during conversations with the oncology team. Equally as important is to have trust and confidence in your providers, which you have established.
You've done a great job being a health care advocate and express your background well. Can you continue to post updates to inform me as to how your doing?