New treatment for lung cancer shows promising results for one local family
ARLINGTON, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) — The past few months for Carol Hinthorne and her family have been tough.
"I could not be here right now, and I am," she says. "I kept going to the doctor for a chest infection. We thought it was sinuses."
Carol's doctor ordered a low dose radiation scan. "She called me and said, 'There's something on your lung, you need to get it checked out.'"
After years of smoking, Carol was diagnosed with lung cancer. Her doctors opted for a new trial treatment that involves getting immunotherapy and chemotherapy before surgery.
Carol says she was scared, "but I put my trust in them."
"Traditionally, some of these patients would go straight to surgery and get chemotherapy and immunotherapy afterwards," her surgeon, Dr. Fred Lee, explains, "but new data that's been published within the last year shows that patients who get chemo and immune therapy before surgery can have a complete response."
In other words, "Their tumor can melt away completely."
Dr. Lee's wife, Dr. Deepna Jaiswal, is Carol's oncologist. Carol was their first patient to use this new plan.
After three rounds of treatment – about three months – the spot on Carol's lungs had vanished completely.
"It responded great to the treatment, and when we cut it out, it was just scar tissue," says Dr. Jaiswal. "It's the best possible case. It's what you hope and dream for, that your patients will be the ones that have these amazing complete responses."
The ramifications could be massive. Dr. Jaiswal says, "It's changed out practice, and it's changed the way we manage early-stage lung cancer."
Practice changing for her doctors, life changing for Carol and her family. "I get to spend another Thanksgiving with my family, and I'm so happy about it."
This treatment has been showing promising results for all types of lung cancers, whether the patient was a smoker or not. The doctors say immunotherapy is showing similar results in other types of cancers, and that it is the future of cancer treatment.
As for Carol, she's doing and feeling great.
Her two pieces of advice? Don't smoke and stay on top of your cancer screenings.