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New therapies may have longer action times and different adverse response profiles compared with current agents. Gerlinde Pilkington and Rumona Dickson stress the need to update protocols, using the example of ipilimumab therapy
This article discusses the implications of introducing novel treatments into clinical practice. It uses, as an example, immunotherapy with ipilimumab for the treatment of malignant melanoma to show how new treatment protocols require different frameworks for disease management. The authors highlight that standard methods of measuring disease progression during treatment are not appropriate because of the length of time that immunotherapy takes to work. They go on to outline the adverse events that patients experience during immunotherapy with ipilimumab and focus on the importance of early diagnosis and treatment of adverse events.
Cancer Nursing Practice. 11, 8, 21-24. doi: 10.7748/cnp2012.10.11.8.21.c9355
Correspondence Conflict of interestThis article is part of a project commissioned by the National Institute for Health Research health technology assessment programme – Ipilimumab for Previously Treated Unresectable Malignant Melanoma: A Single Technology Appraisal. The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Health
Peer reviewThis article has been subject to double blind peer review
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