Surgery to remove cancer and even vital organs such as
kidneys has been a mainstay of cancer treatment, but today, researchers are
striving to find other options for patients. For example, nonsurgical
treatments for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma include the use of
immunotherapy (which uses one’s immune system to attack cancer cells) and
tyrosine kinase inhibitors (which block enzymes that aid in cancer growth).
Fifteen years ago, there weren’t many first-line treatment
options for patients with this type of cancer, but now we have several —
allowing patients and their oncologists to choose which treatment may work best
for them.
In this special issue of CURE®, we spoke with a patient with
metastatic renal cell carcinoma who obtained a second opinion after
experiencing tumor growth while on a combination of two immunotherapy drugs.
His new doctors suggested he enroll in a clinical trial that was testing an
immunotherapy drug with a tyrosine kinase inhibitor. He enrolled and
participated, which resulted in the cancer shrinking. “Every scan I had showed
a decrease, and the overall reduction of my cancer was 54%,” he told CURE®. Two
other patients interviewed for the story had similar experiences with the
combination treatment, highlighting its effectiveness in treating this disease
even in earlier stages.
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