Successful immunotherapy and irradiation in a HIV-positive patient with metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma

Research output: Contribution to conferencesPaperContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

This case report presents a HIV-positive 60-year old male with Merkel cell carcinoma of his right forearm and pulmonary sarcoidosis, who, after excisions and irradiations of the primary tumour site and subsequent lymph node metastases developed distant metastases. He received radiotherapy to symptomatic mediastinal lymph node metastases followed by Doxorubicin and, after two cycles, by the PD-1 inhibitor Pembrolizumab due to mixed response. Re-staging showed a para-mediastinal, radiotherapy-induced pneumonitis, which was treated by prednisolone due to clinical symptoms. In September 2017, the patient developed a solitary lymph node metastasis next to the right atrium, for which he received stereotactic radiotherapy. The systemic treatment with Pembrolizumab was replaced by the PD-Ll inhibitor Avelumab and is being continued since. The patient has been in complete remission for one year now and the HIV-infection is well-controlled. (C) 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages42-45
Number of pages4
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2019
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 30671549
Scopus 85067178015
ORCID /0000-0001-7096-5199/work/147142305
ORCID /0000-0003-4340-9706/work/147143194
ORCID /0009-0001-4054-4024/work/149081670

Keywords

Keywords

  • Avelumab, Hiv, Immune checkpoint inhibition, Immunotherapy, Merkel cell carcinoma, Pembrolizumab, Radiotherapy, Sarcoidosis