'Tumors Melted Away': What the Year's Biggest Story in Cancer Really Means for Patients

In June 2022, the New York Times published an article about a remarkable cancer study.

All 18 people in the study had their tumors melt away. A 100% response rate.

They are still being monitored, but as of right now, the cancer has not returned. They have avoided surgery and chemotherapy completely.

The patients in this study had a number of things in common:

They all had been recently diagnosed with rectal cancer
They all had not yet received treatment
They all had MSI-H/MMR
They all received a Checkpoint Inhibitor drug on the trial
This trial will likely lead to other clinical trials like it for other cancer types

In this discussion, Dr. Sager breaks down what this could mean for other cancer patients, including:

The rise of immunotherapy and checkpoint inhibitors
The patients on the study, and why their genetics mattered
What MSI-High (microsatellite instability) is, and how to find out if you have it
What tumor sequencing (NextGen sequencing) is, and how to get it
The surprising finding of considering immunotherapies one step earlier than adjuvant therapy
Dostarlimab (a PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor): what worked and how to talk to your doctor about this class of drug