Maimonides Medical Center has embraced a variety of innovative lung cancer care treatments that include both targeted treatment and immunotherapy. Since these treatments affect patients differently than traditional chemotherapy and surgery do, physicians should become familiar with any possible side effects so they can recognize them early.
Fortunately for patients, side effects are usually quite mild. “Targeted treatment drugs like osimertinib have fewer side effects than chemotherapy, while having a better chance of reducing the cancer,” said Kevin Becker, MD, the Maimonides Cancer Center Medical Director and the Hematology/Oncology Division Chief.
Innovation in Cancer Care: Targeted Treatment
Targeted treatment drugs are often so effective while producing such mild side effects that patients often cannot tell they are ill, changing the perception of lung cancer as an incurable disease to one that can be successfully managed. “Many times, students and doctors-in-training in my clinic are surprised at how easy some of the drug treatments for lung cancer can be,” Dr. Becker said. “Most patients get better to the point that they often tell me that unless I said otherwise, they wouldn’t know they were sick. They have no symptoms and no side effects. That is not what people think of when they think of lung cancer, but it’s the new reality.”
Targeted therapy side effects can include sensitivity to light; blisters and burns can appear even with little exposure to the sun. Rash is also common, often looking like acne on the face, chest, neck, upper back, and scalp. The rash can get dry and red a month after its inception, leading to pimples that can get infected. In general, rash should disappear about a month after the treatment has ended.
Other side effects could include sore cuticles on thumbs and big toes, hand-foot syndrome, and changes in hair growth and skin color.
Game Changer: Immunotherapy
Like targeted treatment, immunotherapy kills cancer cells while usually producing only mild side effects. Immunotherapy has had such positive results that even patients with metastatic level 4 lung cancer can sometimes stop treatment. “One of the first patients with metastatic lung cancer that I treated with immunotherapy in a clinical trial is going on eight years now completely off treatment, living her life almost as if she didn’t have the diagnosis,” Dr. Becker said. “And that’s a disease that used to have an average survival period of 9 to 12 months.”
Side effects for immunotherapy can include fatigue, fever, flu-like symptoms, and irritated skin. When recognized early, the side effects can be managed using immunosuppressive medication; their frequency and duration can be minimized; and pain can be reduced. Sometimes, physicians can reduce side effects by pausing the immunotherapy treatment.
