Possible side effects from melanoma immunotherapy treatment

Remember….Awareness and early treatment

• How often and how severe the side effects are can vary from person to person.
• Your medical team will go through the possible side effects and monitor you closely through treatment to help manage them.
• Early intervention can help you and the health team manage side effects better. 
• Keeping a diary may help you monitor your side effects effectively

How soon and how often should I expect to experience immunotherapy side effects?

The example graph below shows typical timings of the start of side effects when melanoma patients were treated Ipilimumab. This is a type of immunotherapy, known as an immune check-point inhibitor. Side effects can vary by the type of treatment and differ between patients.

Side effect timings with immunotherapy

Reproduced from  Jeffrey S. Weber, Katharina C. Kähler, and Axel Hauschild Management of Immune-Related Adverse Events and Kinetics of Response With Ipilimumab. Journal of Clinical Oncology 2012 30:21, 2691-2697

Ian talks about his concerns about not getting the full treatment of 4 doses of ipilimumab and he wishes he knew at the outset that this is quite common and often a good sign that a patient is responding well to treatment. He also talks about acting upon side effects as soon as you notice symptoms that are not normal for you.  It was Ian’s wife that always noticed when things weren’t ‘right’ and recommended that he contact the hospital. Early reporting is really important as side effects are generally easier to treat when they are less severe. Many people treated with the combination of ipilimumab and nivolumab don’t complete all four cycles due to side effects and still do very well. It is not known what the optimum amount of immunotherapy treatment to boost your immune system and therefore it is a balance of how well your melanoma has been controlled and any side-effects you may be troubled with.