Immunotherapy

Hi and a warm welcome to the online community

I'm sorry to read that your husband has recently been diagnosed with stomach cancer and I know what a difficult time this will be for you both.

I didn't have this type of cancer but I'm from the melanoma group where nivolumab has been used successfully for a number of years.

I used the search bar in the stomach cancer group to look for others in this group who have been treated with this immunotherapy drug but only found a handful of previous posts on the subject. 

You mentioned that your husband has lynch syndrome and you might be interested to know that there is a lynch syndrome group which you might like to join. If this is something that you'd like to do then clicking on the link I've created will take you straight there where you can join and post in the same way as you did here.

It would be great if you could pop something about your husband's journey so far into your profile as it really helps others when answering or looking for someone with a similar diagnosis. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Profile'. You can amend it at any time and if you're not sure what to write you can take a look at mine by clicking on my username.

x

Hi Weathergeek

Sorry to hear of your predicament and that it is a second time for you, its such a stressful time but goods news that you are to receive treatment. We were  hoping for immunotherapy too . .this is our last hope. The evidence base is quite promising for this drug. i dont know if you are aware of the Attraction 2 trial which tells you in detail the success rate/issues overall survival rate. we are so hoping we will be in the 30% who repond category!

I  wasnt aware that Nivomulab was approved for gastric cancer in the NHS as yet though so I would be interested to know more about how and where you are having treatment

thanks !

Sorry I meant to ask if you wll be receiving it  as part of a trial and where that might ne?

Hi, I'm so sorry you're going through this.

Immunotherapy as first line treatment is the best thing to do for certain gastric cancers with certain genetic markers and mutations. The last in person gastric cancer conferences before covid had a number of speakers on this subject. For example, cancers which are MSI high - which could be the case with Lynch Syndrome - respond far better to immunotherapy than chemo, so it makes sense to use them in the first line.

When immunotherapy does work it can provide a really long lasting response. I have a friend in the US who has been on Nivolumab for over two years and he's doing well.

Out of interest, which hospital is your husband under the care of? I think it's wonderful that they're so responsive to the latest research results.

Wishing your husband all the best with his treatment and do let us know how he does.

SDH