Stable lung cancer after recovery from a severe immunotherapy complication
This lung cancer diagnosis at a glance
- Subtype
- Adenocarcinoma
- Sex
- Male
- Treatment
- chemotherapy and immunotherapy
- Outcome
- Stable Disease
Treatment course, step by step
- He received 2 cycles of tislelizumab with carboplatin and pemetrexed.
- Immunotherapy was stopped after severe immune-related neurologic, muscle, and heart complications.
- He later continued capecitabine and pemetrexed, with the lung tumor remaining stable.
What happened, in summary
A 64-year-old man with lung adenocarcinoma received 2 cycles of tislelizumab together with carboplatin and pemetrexed. Soon after the second cycle, he developed rapidly worsening weakness, drooping eyelids, double vision, and difficulty speaking.
Testing showed an immune-related overlap syndrome involving myasthenia gravis, muscle inflammation, and heart inflammation. His condition worsened despite initial treatment with corticosteroids and intravenous immunoglobulin. He developed breathing failure and required mechanical ventilation. Tislelizumab was stopped.
Because his symptoms continued to progress, he received eculizumab as rescue treatment. His muscle and heart test results improved quickly, he was able to come off the ventilator, and his strength gradually returned. After completing the initial treatment course, he was discharged and continued maintenance eculizumab as an outpatient.
During follow-up, his neurologic and heart complications continued to improve. At 8 months, he had no measurable neurologic disability, while his lung tumor remained radiologically stable on capecitabine and pemetrexed without evidence of cancer progression.
Where this story comes from
This is a lay summary of an account first published by PMC / PubMed Central. Read the original in full
How we source and attribute stories Accuracy and limitations
These are lay summaries of published cancer stories, for information only. No two cancers behave the same way, and nothing here predicts your own diagnosis or replaces advice from your oncology team. Read the full disclaimer