Patient With Breast Cancer Successfully Treated With Immunotherapy in Thailand Hospital
Posted: Thursday, July 1, 2021
For Ploenpit Goware, several treatments had proved unsuccessful for her breast cancer, with cancer spreading to her liver, lungs, and bones. With all other options exhausted, Kris Chatamra, MD, Associate Professor and Head of the Queen Sirikit Center for Breast Cancer in Chulalongkorn Hospital, Thailand, proposed using immunotherapy.
After 6 months of treatment, Ms. Goware’s condition steadily improved. She is no longer using a wheelchair and can climb stairs without overexerting herself. The pain in her bones disappeared, and biopsy results from the liver showed no traces of metastasized cancer cells. The immunotherapy resulted in minimal side effects, including blisters and minor joint pain.
Although immunotherapy has been used to treat several types of cancer, Dr. Chatamra’s Center has been studying the technique for years to tailor it toward breast cancer treatment. Since Ms. Goware received immunotherapy, the Center has begun using it for other patients with breast cancer.
“In over 50 years of my experience as a breast cancer doctor, times have drastically changed. With early detection, coupled with immunotherapy treatment, patients’ have up to a 90% chance of being cured,” said Dr. Chatamra in an institutional press release. “For those who are cured, nobody can tell if the cancer will come back. The only thing I can say is that the immune system will remain in the body forever, and should there be new cancer cells, it should be enough to put up a fight.”
Today, Ms. Goware is living a normal life. Her current medical concerns are to stay mindful of compromised bones affecting movement in her back and neck from previous treatments.
