In this short video, Dr. Williams holds a conversation with one of our current patients Nevena Doric, who has entrusted her health to the hands of Dr. Williams. He explains his reasoning as to why Immunotherapy treatments have been healing many cancer patients.
A cancer diagnosis is a very scary reality. Cancer continues to be a serious illness, but there is hope for patients for better treatment options today that were not available a decade ago. This article addresses common questions and concerns regarding cancer treatment, including difficult to treat tumors.
How Does Cancer Treatment Work at the Cellular Level
Immune checkpoint inhibitors offer a new alternative to cancer treatment. Oncologists use the treatment method to stimulate the body to attack foreign cancer cells while protecting normal, healthy cells.
It all occurs at the cellular level of the body. Checkpoints on certain cells are either activated or deactivated to stimulate an immune response against cancer cells. However, cancer cells can use these same checkpoints to avoid an attack from the immune system.
Whether it is you or a loved one, a cancer diagnosis is a life-altering diagnosis to experience. You may have a lot of questions on the treatment options presented by the oncologist. One of the most common questions is: what will be the side effects of cancer treatment?
It is essential to have open and honest conversations with your oncologist. Finding a trusted cancer clinic for your care will be a priority. You will want to make sure the provider explains the benefits to therapies presented and possible outcomes and side effects.
Radiofrequency ablation for cancer and intratumoral immunotherapy are treatment options for cancer that may be unfamiliar. In this article, we will discuss the side effects of these cutting edge therapies.
Dr. Jason R. Williams of The Williams Cancer Institute was recently featured on the podcast “Targeted Talks”, along with medical oncologist Dr. George R. Simon, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The two discussed the importance community oncologists have on the future of treatment of non-small cell lung cancer.
According to Dr. Williams, “every treatment option for non-small cell lung cancer now involves individualized immunotherapy.” Though oncologists had been resistant to including it in the plan of care for their patients, most have adapted as studies have revealed success, and more drugs are FDA approved.
Patients are asked as soon as they receive pathology reports whether they would like to start immunotherapy. There are limitations to success, as more data continues to be gathered on the subject. One promising option is the addition of cryoablation immunotherapy.
Intratumoral immunotherapy is one of the most recent scientific advances for cancer treatments. This discovery has had some amazing results, including eliminating traces of cancer cells within the patient’s body.
This treatment is centered around the idea of using the tumor as the vaccine to fight against cancer. It entails directly injecting high concentrations of immunostimulatory products, coupled with a small amount of medication, into the tumor.
One study published in the journal The Oncologist has shown that the overall response rate of this treatment was 55 percent, in a treatment course done over 12 weeks. Those who underwent a second course had a 26% to 51% success rate.
Here are five benefits to intratumoral immunotherapy:
Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a procedure that relies on electrical energy to kill cancer cells without removing them with surgery. According to Cancer.Org, this technique is most effective in patients with small tumors, or when a cancer patient is not an ideal candidate for surgery.
Here are some of the most common questions about radiofrequency ablation for cancer:
1. How does radiofrequency ablation work?
A radiologist inserts a thin needle through an incision in the skin near the cancer tissue, guided by a piece of imaging equipment, such as an ultrasound or an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging). This thin needle is charged with high-frequency energy that heats up and kills the cancer cells.
Because it is a minimally invasive procedure, the cancer patient may not need to stay in the facility or clinic although, for some individuals, the RFA might be done in the operating room where the patient is given general anesthesia.
Intratumoral immunotherapy is a revolutionary cancer treatment that makes use of sophisticated antibodies, which are directly injected into the cancer tumors, instead of intravenously.
This new cancer treatment immunotherapy can dramatically improve a cancer patient’s response rate, along with many other advantages.
Tumor against itself
The word itself, intratumoral, means within a tumor. Experts think that the best way to cure cancer is to use what’s already in the patient’s body, which means using cancer against itself.
A cancer patient’s immune system may target cancer cells and kill them before they overrun the body. However, the immune system sometimes needs a little nudge and this is where intratumoral immunotherapy could help.
According to experts, intratumoral immunotherapy optimizes cancer cells to work like a vaccine. It also inhibits the growth of the tumor as the tumor cells are injected with antibodies.
This process allows the patient to have cancer treatments with few side effects, unlike other methods. This also cuts the cost of expensive cancer treatments, while giving patients higher chances of survival and longer life.
Dr. Jason R. Williams of the Williams Cancer Institute announced a revolutionary approach to intra-tumoral immunologic tumor elimination of advanced cancers, unveiled at the 34th annual conference of the Society For Immunotherapy Of Cancer. The conference seeks to provide improved cancer patient outcomes by advancing the science, development and application of cancer immunology and immunotherapy across the medical field. Dr. Williams’s announcement is a major milestone for the Williams Cancer Institute on its mission to further advance research in intratumoral immunotherapy and help cancer patients.
The recently unveiled revolutionary approach allows for a greater combination of immunotherapy by directly injecting into the tumor, and has shown astounding results in a trial involving a stage-4 breast cancer patient with liver and a single brain metastasis.
Your immune system does more than simply fight colds and flu. Throughout your life, your natural defenses seek out and destroy anything that is not recognized as part of the self including all kinds of germs and cancer cells before they have a chance to cause disease. Your immune system manages to destroy most rogue cells before they form a full-fledged tumor, but some of them get by your defenses. If you already have cancer, your immune system will still be working hard to keep your disease in check, but it probably can’t do the job on its own.
Immunotherapy is a type of cancer treatment that helps your immune system fight cancer. The immune system helps your body fight infections and other diseases. It is made up of white blood cells and organs and tissues of the lymph system.
Immunotherapy is a type of biological therapy. Biological therapy is a type of treatment that uses substances made from living organisms to treat cancer.
How Immunotherapy Works against Cancer
One reason that cancer cells thrive is because they are able to hide from your immune system. Certain immunotherapies can mark cancer cells so it is easier for the immune system to find and destroy them. Other immunotherapies boost your immune system to work better against cancer.