Below are some questions about immunotherapy to ask your doctor to learn more about it as a treatment option, and whether it’s the right fit. If you don’t understand your doctor’s answers, ask for clarification.
- Is immunotherapy available as part of my treatment plan? If not, why not? Would other treatment options be better for me?
- How do I find out about clinical trials? Are there any nearby that might be right for me?
- What do you expect the immunotherapy to do to the cancer?
- What percentage of people with this type of cancer respond to immunotherapy?
- Which immunotherapy are you recommending?
- Will it be my only treatment, or will I also have other treatments?
- How often will I receive immunotherapy? Can you give me the Consumer Medicine Information for it?
- How long will I have treatment?
- Where will I have treatment?
- What side effects should I watch out for or report?
- Who do I contact if I get side effects?
- How can side effects be managed?
- How will I know if the treatment is working?
- How much will immunotherapy cost?
- Can I take my other medicines while having immunotherapy? Can I have the flu vaccine?
Listen to a podcast on New Cancer Treatments – Immunotherapy and Targeted Therapy
Additional resources
A/Prof Brett Hughes, Senior Staff Specialist, Medical Oncology, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and The Prince Charles Hospital, and Associate Professor, The University of Queensland, QLD; Dawn Bedwell, 13 11 20 Consultant, Cancer Council Queensland, QLD; Tamara Dawson, Consumer; A/Prof Craig Gedye, Senior Staff Specialist, Medical Oncology, Calvary Mater Newcastle, and Conjoint Associate Professor, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, NSW; A/Prof Alexander Menzies, Medical Oncologist, Associate Professor of Melanoma Medical Oncology, and Faculty Member, Melanoma Institute Australia, The University of Sydney, Royal North Shore Hospital and Mater Hospital, NSW; Dr Donna Milne, Nurse Consultant Melanoma and Skin Service, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, VIC; Dr Geoffrey Peters, Staff Specialist, Medical Oncology, Canberra Hospital and Health Services, and Clinical Lecturer, Australian National University, ACT.
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