Car T Therapy Side Effects

Julie vose chief of the oncology hematology division at university of nebraska medical center tells survivornet connect.

Car t therapy side effects.

Serious side effects of this release can include very high fevers and dangerously low blood pressure in the days after treatment is given. These include neurotoxicity which can result in headache confusion and. In many cases crs is followed by a second wave of side effects that involve the nervous system according to dana farber s caron jacobson md medical director of the institute s immune effector cell therapy program and a leader of clinical trials of car t cell therapy for patients with treatment resistant large b cell lymphomas. These problems can include tremors headaches confusion loss of balance trouble speaking seizures and sometime hallucinations.

Because these side effects can be serious people who have car t cell therapy must be close to the site of their treatment for a period of time after they re released he adds. As car t cells multiply they cause massive amounts of chemicals called cytokines to be released into the blood. When the modified t cells kill the tumor cells these then break into component parts and all the leftover gunk can be floating in your bloodstream. Again tumor lysis is a side effect showing that the car t cell treatment is working perhaps too well.

While the therapy can lead to long lasting remissions for some patients with very advanced cancer it can also cause neurologic side effects such as speech problems tremors delirium and seizures. Car t cell therapy side effects. Car t cell therapy is a very serious therapy and it does have some potentially serious side effects dr. Some people have had serious side effects from this treatment especially as the car t cells multiply in the body to fight the cancer.