How quickly does Yervoy shrink tumors?
REGISTER
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.

How quickly does Yervoy shrink tumors?

› Forums › General Melanoma Community › How quickly does Yervoy shrink tumors?

  • Post
    • December 28, 2013 at 5:06 am
    Patina
    Participant

    Hi,

    Does anyone here know or have they experinced a reduction in visible tumors within weeks of taking Yervoy?  I can't find anything on this and wonder if anyone knows how good a sign this might be or not…

    My Mother was diagnosed with stage IV and later brain mets.  She had gamma knife radiation for lesions on her brain and 4 days later had her first infusion of Yervoy. 

    She had a very large tumor on her neck and 18 small to large tumors on her scalp.  There were 8 small lesions on her brain.

    Two weeks later the tumor on her neck has shrunk by 50% and the tumors on her head are now hard compared to what they had been.  She still have 3 more treatments of Yervoy and I'm wondering how positive this might be or not…  

    She goes in 3 weeks to get a MRI of her brain and we might know what is happening with her scalp, but its encouraging that the tumor on her neck is much smaller.

     

     

     

     

Viewing 11 reply threads
  • Replies
      • December 28, 2013 at 8:12 pm
      Julie in SoCal
      Participant

      Hi Patina,

      I can't tell you how fast Yervoy is supposed to work, but it sounds like it's working for your mother.  50% shrinkage in 2 weeks sounds like a good response.

       

      Dancing the happy dance with you!

      Julie

       

      • December 28, 2013 at 8:12 pm
      Julie in SoCal
      Participant

      Hi Patina,

      I can't tell you how fast Yervoy is supposed to work, but it sounds like it's working for your mother.  50% shrinkage in 2 weeks sounds like a good response.

       

      Dancing the happy dance with you!

      Julie

       

        • December 31, 2013 at 7:06 am
        Patina
        Participant

        Thanks. I'm glad this is really good news and not just what is normaly expected.

        • December 31, 2013 at 7:06 am
        Patina
        Participant

        Thanks. I'm glad this is really good news and not just what is normaly expected.

        • December 31, 2013 at 7:06 am
        Patina
        Participant

        Thanks. I'm glad this is really good news and not just what is normaly expected.

      • December 28, 2013 at 8:12 pm
      Julie in SoCal
      Participant

      Hi Patina,

      I can't tell you how fast Yervoy is supposed to work, but it sounds like it's working for your mother.  50% shrinkage in 2 weeks sounds like a good response.

       

      Dancing the happy dance with you!

      Julie

       

      • December 29, 2013 at 7:57 pm
      arthurjedi007
      Participant

      Wow. That sounds wonderful. I get my 3rd Yervoy dose tomorrow. They told me any med side affects means Yervoy is working. To visibly see it shrinking tumors sounds like a very good thing.

      • December 29, 2013 at 7:57 pm
      arthurjedi007
      Participant

      Wow. That sounds wonderful. I get my 3rd Yervoy dose tomorrow. They told me any med side affects means Yervoy is working. To visibly see it shrinking tumors sounds like a very good thing.

        • December 31, 2013 at 6:46 am
        Patina
        Participant

        We had heard that some side effects could be good too.  So we are keeping our fingers crossed.

        We were surprised by how fast things started to change when we had not been expecting much.  The first things she experienced was hot/tingling around the tumors and that started on the 2nd day.  At night around 4 days in it became so uncomfortable that she would have to sleep on her stomach because it was too uncomfortable to rest her head on either side.  She also has 5 areas in her trunk with small tumors.  So, it will be interesting to see if the other areas on her chest and back correlate to they areas where they found the other tumors.  

        She was very very tired from day 5 to 12, but has sense then recovered most of her normal energy.  

        I did talk to someone and they said that it is a good sign when the tumors get hard because it means the T-cells are attaching the tumor.  It would be nice if the information on Yervoy included this type of information.  I've looked all over to see what it mean if the tumors got hard and was just hoping that it was a good sign.

         

         

         

         

         

        • December 31, 2013 at 6:46 am
        Patina
        Participant

        We had heard that some side effects could be good too.  So we are keeping our fingers crossed.

        We were surprised by how fast things started to change when we had not been expecting much.  The first things she experienced was hot/tingling around the tumors and that started on the 2nd day.  At night around 4 days in it became so uncomfortable that she would have to sleep on her stomach because it was too uncomfortable to rest her head on either side.  She also has 5 areas in her trunk with small tumors.  So, it will be interesting to see if the other areas on her chest and back correlate to they areas where they found the other tumors.  

        She was very very tired from day 5 to 12, but has sense then recovered most of her normal energy.  

        I did talk to someone and they said that it is a good sign when the tumors get hard because it means the T-cells are attaching the tumor.  It would be nice if the information on Yervoy included this type of information.  I've looked all over to see what it mean if the tumors got hard and was just hoping that it was a good sign.

         

         

         

         

         

        • December 31, 2013 at 6:46 am
        Patina
        Participant

        We had heard that some side effects could be good too.  So we are keeping our fingers crossed.

        We were surprised by how fast things started to change when we had not been expecting much.  The first things she experienced was hot/tingling around the tumors and that started on the 2nd day.  At night around 4 days in it became so uncomfortable that she would have to sleep on her stomach because it was too uncomfortable to rest her head on either side.  She also has 5 areas in her trunk with small tumors.  So, it will be interesting to see if the other areas on her chest and back correlate to they areas where they found the other tumors.  

        She was very very tired from day 5 to 12, but has sense then recovered most of her normal energy.  

        I did talk to someone and they said that it is a good sign when the tumors get hard because it means the T-cells are attaching the tumor.  It would be nice if the information on Yervoy included this type of information.  I've looked all over to see what it mean if the tumors got hard and was just hoping that it was a good sign.

         

         

         

         

         

      • December 29, 2013 at 7:57 pm
      arthurjedi007
      Participant

      Wow. That sounds wonderful. I get my 3rd Yervoy dose tomorrow. They told me any med side affects means Yervoy is working. To visibly see it shrinking tumors sounds like a very good thing.

      • December 30, 2013 at 2:32 pm
      Gene_S
      Participant

      Hello,

      My husband and I watched as his skin leions shrunk until they were not there.  We didn't see a response as quickly as your Mother  had but I would say it is a good sign.  If you want to read more about my husbands experience check out his profile.

      Judy (loving wife of Gene Stage IV and now NED)

      • December 30, 2013 at 2:32 pm
      Gene_S
      Participant

      Hello,

      My husband and I watched as his skin leions shrunk until they were not there.  We didn't see a response as quickly as your Mother  had but I would say it is a good sign.  If you want to read more about my husbands experience check out his profile.

      Judy (loving wife of Gene Stage IV and now NED)

      • December 30, 2013 at 2:32 pm
      Gene_S
      Participant

      Hello,

      My husband and I watched as his skin leions shrunk until they were not there.  We didn't see a response as quickly as your Mother  had but I would say it is a good sign.  If you want to read more about my husbands experience check out his profile.

      Judy (loving wife of Gene Stage IV and now NED)

        • December 31, 2013 at 6:47 am
        Patina
        Participant

        Wow. I read what he's gone through.  It is great.  Here's to another year with no sign of melanoma.

        • December 31, 2013 at 6:47 am
        Patina
        Participant

        Wow. I read what he's gone through.  It is great.  Here's to another year with no sign of melanoma.

        • December 31, 2013 at 6:47 am
        Patina
        Participant

        Wow. I read what he's gone through.  It is great.  Here's to another year with no sign of melanoma.

      • December 30, 2013 at 7:58 pm
      JerryfromFauq
      Participant

      Two weeks is much faster than normal and is GREAT.  Some cases wher Yervoy (+IPI) has been administered have taken anywhere between two weeks and as much as a fullyear to sshow results.  Very glad for your quick response.  Pray that it will be one  of the lo0ng last responses.  (MAYBE even a cure?)

       

      • December 30, 2013 at 7:58 pm
      JerryfromFauq
      Participant

      Two weeks is much faster than normal and is GREAT.  Some cases wher Yervoy (+IPI) has been administered have taken anywhere between two weeks and as much as a fullyear to sshow results.  Very glad for your quick response.  Pray that it will be one  of the lo0ng last responses.  (MAYBE even a cure?)

       

      • December 30, 2013 at 7:58 pm
      JerryfromFauq
      Participant

      Two weeks is much faster than normal and is GREAT.  Some cases wher Yervoy (+IPI) has been administered have taken anywhere between two weeks and as much as a fullyear to sshow results.  Very glad for your quick response.  Pray that it will be one  of the lo0ng last responses.  (MAYBE even a cure?)

       

        • December 31, 2013 at 7:05 am
        Patina
        Participant

        That would be terrific!  My Mom doesn't do anything halfway so that would be great 🙂

        We are very hopeful that things will look up for her. Its been a very stressful few months with waiting to get into a trial, mixups with labs and then the radiologist missing the brain mets…  We were really hoping to get her into a trial with the new PD-1 drugs, but with brain mets she couldn't get right into the trails once the knew they were there… 

        She is BRAF positive too, so we are hoping to keep as many options as there are open for her.  We've also heard that the PD-1 drug from Merck might be available as early as March for compationate use.  So, if things turn in the oppisite direction we might have this as an option.

         

         

        • December 31, 2013 at 7:05 am
        Patina
        Participant

        That would be terrific!  My Mom doesn't do anything halfway so that would be great 🙂

        We are very hopeful that things will look up for her. Its been a very stressful few months with waiting to get into a trial, mixups with labs and then the radiologist missing the brain mets…  We were really hoping to get her into a trial with the new PD-1 drugs, but with brain mets she couldn't get right into the trails once the knew they were there… 

        She is BRAF positive too, so we are hoping to keep as many options as there are open for her.  We've also heard that the PD-1 drug from Merck might be available as early as March for compationate use.  So, if things turn in the oppisite direction we might have this as an option.

         

         

        • December 31, 2013 at 7:05 am
        Patina
        Participant

        That would be terrific!  My Mom doesn't do anything halfway so that would be great 🙂

        We are very hopeful that things will look up for her. Its been a very stressful few months with waiting to get into a trial, mixups with labs and then the radiologist missing the brain mets…  We were really hoping to get her into a trial with the new PD-1 drugs, but with brain mets she couldn't get right into the trails once the knew they were there… 

        She is BRAF positive too, so we are hoping to keep as many options as there are open for her.  We've also heard that the PD-1 drug from Merck might be available as early as March for compationate use.  So, if things turn in the oppisite direction we might have this as an option.

         

         

Viewing 11 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.

Popular Topics