She did not believe that she would live: a 71-year-old resident of Lviv region overcame stage 4 lung cancer
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In Lviv, doctors confirmed the effectiveness of an experimental treatment that helped 71-year-old Hanna overcome stage 4 lung cancer.
The woman was diagnosed in 2016, the Lviv Oncology Regional Treatment and Diagnostic Center reports.
She turned to doctors eight years ago when she felt pain in her chest.
“A stab under the shoulder blade – at first I didn’t pay attention to it, but every day it got worse. It got worse even after I was prescribed medicine. The second time I went to the doctor when my chest started to hurt.” – says the woman.
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| The doctor with Hanna. Photo: Lviv Oncology Regional Medical and Diagnostic Center |
After the examination, the woman was sent to the oncology center, where doctors discovered lung cancer in the fourth stage with metastases in the lungs, pleura and bones.
“The patient had a severe pain syndrome, took narcotic drugs for pain relief, and we offered her participation in a clinical study. She agreed.” – said Ivanna Duda, an oncologist at the chemotherapeutic department of the Lviv Cancer Center.
According to her, as part of the treatment, Hanna received six cycles of chemotherapy in combination with a new immunotherapy drug, which, at that time, had not yet been registered, but was only undergoing clinical trials.
Immunotherapy helps one’s own immune system to fight cancer, says the doctor.
“Cancer cells are so camouflaged that our body does not recognize them and therefore does not fight them. Immunotherapy, so to speak, removes the camouflage from cancer cells, the body sees that they are foreign and starts to fight against cancer cells. So the immune system does not allows the disease to progress”– says Ivanna Duda.
According to doctors, thanks to the treatment, Hanna’s pain disappeared, and the disease stopped progressing.
The pharmaceutical company that conducted the study continues to provide the woman with free immunotherapy with these drugs. To maintain the result, Ms. Hanna needs to receive immunotherapy once every three weeks.
“I did not believe that I would get out of this (oncological disease – ed.)“, says Anna.
We previously reported that Moderna has developed an experimental vaccine that, when combined with immunotherapy Keytruda, may reduce the risk of skin cancer death or recurrence.
Read also: “Mom didn’t let me die”: 6 stories of children who overcame cancer
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