How Effective is Immunotherapy for Cancer?

When Should I Consider Immunotherapy?

At Cochise Oncology, we consult with you on when you should consider immunotherapy. Depending on the type of cancer you have, you can use it as a standalone treatment or in conjunction with standard chemo and radiation therapies. The range of cancers that immunotherapy treats is considerable and includes cancers of the head, neck, skin, prostate, kidney, bladder, breast, and cervix. 

Benefits of Immunotherapy

Here are some of the benefits of immunotherapy: 

• Cancers are less likely to return: Because immunotherapy utilizes the immune system, cancers are much less likely to return in the future—the treatment programs the immune system to recognize new cancerous cells and eliminate them. 
• Causes fewer side effects: Radiation and chemotherapy both have side effects, damaging healthy tissue at the same time as killing cancer cells, leading to things like weakness and hair loss. Immunotherapy, however, is much more targeted because it encourages the immune system to selectively target problem cells and eliminate them, with relatively little damage to other tissues in the body. 
• Assists other treatments: Radiation and chemotherapy are both effective in eliminating cancer cells in their own right. But they can become even more potent when combined with immunotherapy.
• Works when other treatments don’t: Sometimes, stubborn tumors do not respond to traditional therapies and continue to spread. In some cases, immunotherapy can stop this and help patients go into remission where radiation and immunotherapy can fail. 
• Works on many types of cancer: The list of the kinds of cancers that respond to immunotherapy is growing all the time.