Immunotherapy and Cancer Treatment

From last 3 decades survival is advanced urinary bladder cancer remained poor and cisplatin was the only effective drug, but now with the advent of immunotherapy and other targeted therapies we are looking at prolonged survival for such patients and responses.

Urinary bladder cancer if diagnosed early and treated in time is a curable disease and different modalities involved are described below

Surgical treatment consists of following modalities

How does immunotherapy work against cancer?

Immune cells are always found around cancer but they do not kill these cancer cells because they have been put to sleep. What immunotherapy does is, it awakens the force within i.e., it activates these immune cells which subsequently kill these cancer cells. Immunotherapy helps the immune system to better act against cancer. Stimulating, or boosting, the natural defenses of your immune system so it works harder or smarter to find and attack cancer cells.

How effective is Immunotherapy?

It is very effective for particular diseases and properly selected patients. It should not be given to everybody. It should not be misused also. And the amount of benefit should be discussed with experts. Immunotherapy is not a sanjeevni bhooti. In selected lung cancer patients we have seen survival more the 4-5 years, which was never reported before. The amount of benefit has to be discussed again and again. It can range from a few months to years.

How is immunotherapy administered?

Patients may receive immunotherapy in a physician’s office, medical clinic, or hospital outpatient unit. The frequency of treatment depends on a number of factors, such as the type and stage of cancer, the type of immunotherapy being administered, and the body’s reaction to the therapy. Patients receiving immunotherapy are frequently monitored by their doctor through tests, exams, and scans that determine whether the therapy is working and record any effects it may be having on the body.