Battling regional (stage III) lung cancer: Bumpy road of a cancer survivor in the immunotherapy age

Zhonglin Hao, Paul Biddinger, Carsten Schroeder, Khurram Tariq

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

A 58-year-old woman, a heavy smoker, was diagnosed with stage III squamous cell lung cancer. She was treated with concurrent chemotherapy and radiotherapy, with partial response. 2 months later, she had haemoptysis caused by brisk bleeding from the radiated right upper lobe. Fortunately, her bleed was self-limited. 4 months later, a rapidly enlarging renal mass was discovered and turned out to be metastatic from the lung primary. Second-line chemotherapy with docetaxel and ramucirumab did not have effects on the renal mass after 2 cycles. Despite not being eligible for a durvalumab trial because of lack of PD-L1 expression, she had a meaningful response to nivolumab. Once every 2 weeks, infusion of nivolumab resulted in rapid tumour shrinkage in multiple areas. In the next few months, she experienced a variety of side effects, some of which were potentially life-threatening. She had disease progression 9 months into treatment.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number215304
JournalBMJ Case Reports
Volume2016
DOIs
StatePublished - 2016

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Medicine

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