Opdivo Side Effects - 1272643

mgilman
Posts:1

Hello,

My mother has Stage III lung cancer. She's gone through chemo and radiation and now is on Opdivo (since late November). She seems to be tolerating it fine however she had a lesion/tumor on her chest that has gotten worse since then. And so her doctor did a scan on it (in December) and decided it was likely cancer (didn't do a biopsy) and decided to radiate it. It's still hurting (she just finished radiation last week on it.) She's also discovered another lump on her arm, near where the Opdivo was administered.

The doctor did however think that her lungs had improved quite quickly from Opdivo already, that there has been a response and it was early on for that to be happening. Could this new lump/increased one potentially be a pseudo progression? Could it be a weird infection or allergy? Or maybe Opdivo is only partially working?

Thanks!

Maddie

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JimC
Posts: 2753

Hi Maddie,

I'm sorry that your mother's results are not more clear-cut, although it's good to hear that the cancer in her lungs has improved. It's really still pretty early to be certain what is going on, and as you say there is the possibility of infection or allergic reaction, possibly unrelated to the disease or treatment. Unfortunately only more time will provide a clear indication about the true effect of Opdivo.

JimC
Forum moderator