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Pembro and steroids – decamethadone
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Pembro and steroids – decamethadone

› Forums › General Melanoma Community › Pembro and steroids – decamethadone

  • Post
    • March 23, 2017 at 6:03 pm
    zfishberg
    Participant

      Hello!

      I am sure that this subject has been already discussed on this Forum.

      My husband treatment is a combination of SRS and Keytruda.

      Aftef the Gamma Knife procedures he usually develops edema and have to use Decadron to alleviate it.

      The doc  tries to go not above 6-8 mg per day.

      Just wanted to hear from other people who experienced similar

      situations and how they overcame it.

      My concern is that decadron will interfere with immune system and diminish the effect of Pembro.

       

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    • Replies
        • March 23, 2017 at 6:34 pm
        jennunicorn
        Participant

          No need to be concerned that steroids woud stop the effect of Pembro. First of all, that's a very low dose of steroid. Secondly, many experts have reported that patients who have to go on steroids to treat a side effect are still getting a response to treatment. Here is a link that touches on that subject:

          http://www.uptodate.com/contents/toxicities-associated-with-checkpoint-inhibitor-immunotherapy#H91786710

          Here is a statement from that link: "Anti-PD-1 antibodies – IrAEs are significantly less frequent with the anti-PD-1 antibodies compared with ipilimumab. In an analysis of 576 patients with advanced melanoma treated in four clinical trials, 24 percent received immunosuppressive therapy for the management of treatment-related adverse events [3]. There was no significant difference in the objective response rate between those who received immunosuppressive treatment and those who did not (29.8 versus 31.8 percent). The median duration of response was not reached in those with immunosuppressive therapy, compared with 22 months in those not requiring immunosuppressive therapy"

          Hope that helps ease your concern.

          • March 24, 2017 at 2:05 pm
          cancersnewnormal
          Participant

            Temporary steriod doses… particularly that low, will not interfere. I was fortunate not to have to take Dex after gamma treatments, but did have plenty of it for both craniotomies. Pembro still managed to wipe out the melanoma.

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