The information on this site is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Content within the patient forum is user-generated and has not been reviewed by medical professionals. Other sections of the Melanoma Research Foundation website include information that has been reviewed by medical professionals as appropriate. All medical decisions should be made in consultation with your doctor or other qualified medical professional.

Can biopsy tell if PD-1 is working

Forums General Melanoma Community Can biopsy tell if PD-1 is working

  • Post
    mom123
    Participant

    Hello all,

    We had a biopsy procedure for my son to evaluate if the growth of the tumor is inflamation or tumor's growth. It is in pathology now.

    Does anyone have an  experience with pathology confirmation for PD-1 response?

     

    Thank you for the great support team,

    Mom

Viewing 2 reply threads
  • Replies
      Maureen038
      Participant

      I'm not a doctor, but a biopsy would only confirm if it's melanoma or not. Scans would be given at certain intervals to see if the Pd1 is working. When my husband was on Pd1 he was scanned every 8 weeks. It takes time though to see if it's working. Sometimes with immunotherapy drugs, nodules will get bigger than they will shrink or stay stable. That happened to my husband where his lymph nodes got bigger and they almost took him off the medicine. Luckily for us, the next scans showed shrinkage. Please make sure your son is seeing a melanoma specialist. Do you need help finding one? There are many people on the board that have a wealth of knowledge. Please continue to ask questions. I'm wishing you the best!!

      Maureen

      Maureen038
      Participant

      I'm not a doctor, but a biopsy would only confirm if it's melanoma or not. Scans would be given at certain intervals to see if the Pd1 is working. When my husband was on Pd1 he was scanned every 8 weeks. It takes time though to see if it's working. Sometimes with immunotherapy drugs, nodules will get bigger than they will shrink or stay stable. That happened to my husband where his lymph nodes got bigger and they almost took him off the medicine. Luckily for us, the next scans showed shrinkage. Please make sure your son is seeing a melanoma specialist. Do you need help finding one? There are many people on the board that have a wealth of knowledge. Please continue to ask questions. I'm wishing you the best!!

      Maureen

      Maureen038
      Participant

      I'm not a doctor, but a biopsy would only confirm if it's melanoma or not. Scans would be given at certain intervals to see if the Pd1 is working. When my husband was on Pd1 he was scanned every 8 weeks. It takes time though to see if it's working. Sometimes with immunotherapy drugs, nodules will get bigger than they will shrink or stay stable. That happened to my husband where his lymph nodes got bigger and they almost took him off the medicine. Luckily for us, the next scans showed shrinkage. Please make sure your son is seeing a melanoma specialist. Do you need help finding one? There are many people on the board that have a wealth of knowledge. Please continue to ask questions. I'm wishing you the best!!

      Maureen

Viewing 2 reply threads
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
About the MRF Patient Forum

The MRF Patient Forum is the oldest and largest online community of people affected by melanoma. It is designed to provide peer support and information to caregivers, patients, family and friends. There is no better place to discuss different parts of your journey with this cancer and find the friends and support resources to make that journey more bearable.

The information on the forum is open and accessible to everyone. To add a new topic or to post a reply, you must be a registered user. Please note that you will be able to post both topics and replies anonymously even though you are logged in. All posts must abide by MRF posting policies.