Nivolumab – Granuloma and Interstitial septal thickening of the lungs

Hi Zelda, my mother is on a similar drug – spartalizumab in a trial + Dab/Tram and around her 8 treatment she got pneumonitis which cleared up with steroids. When she stopped taking the steroids she got cough, chest pain and shortness of breath and they discovered bilateral enlarged lymph nodes in her chest. Since November they were bigger and smaller on each scan, now they have almost disappeared, they also found granuloma on her lungs. Oncologist thinks it might be side effect from immunotherapy or sarcoidosis. As immunotherapy drugs can cause inflammation to various organs, I think lung problems are pretty common. Good luck and please keep us posted!

Unfortunately immunotherapy (including Nivo) can cause a lot of weird and unfortunate side effects! Sorry you are dealing with them! As the prior responder noted, most folks improve rapidly with a break in the offending drug and treatment with steroids. Most of the side effects resolve completely (though those whose hormone secreting glands like the thyroid are affected do have to take replacement hormone supplements for life) and often immunotherapy can be resumed with close observation. Pneumonitis and other lung issues are common. Here are a lot of specific reports (though other side effects are also discussed in some of them): https://chaoticallypreciselifeloveandmelanoma.blogspot.com/search?q=pneumonitis Here is an excellent algorithm that outlines treatment of specific categories of side effects for oncologists: http://chaoticallypreciselifeloveandmelanoma.blogspot.com/2016/07/excellent-pdf-on-how-to-deal-with.html

Hope that helps and you are feeling better soon!!! celeste