He had chronic hepatitis C for several years before a new treatment was developed that cured him of the condition. Within a few months, he was effectively cured of the hepatitis, but to make sure he hadn’t caused the tumors to grow due to chronic inflammation, he was ordered to have a CT scan every few months to check for lesions. In early 2018, during one of those routine check-up scans, the two technicians who read his scan couldn’t agree on what they were seeing. His specialist suggested he meet with Srinevas Reddy, MD, at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center to better understand what was going on. “He was very good,” says Chuck. But the news wasn’t: he was immediately diagnosed with stage 1 liver cancer, with Dr. Reddy scheduling his operation for a few weeks later. Luann Schliecher, Chuck’s wife, remembers that Dr. Reddy was “almost stunned” by the diagnosis because most people with liver cancer are asymptomatic, meaning they don’t know they have cancer until much later in their disease and therefore have fewer treatment options. . After parts of two lobes of Chuck’s liver were removed and after a slightly extended stay at Roswell Park, Chuck and Luann went home and continued a regular series of liver scans, every three months, to make sure his liver was as healthy as possible. healthier.
A promising clinical trial
In late 2021, however, one of those routine scans revealed another growth on Chuck’s liver. The cancer had returned, this time slightly larger, but it was too difficult for a simple surgery to try to remove them. Instead, he consulted with Boris Kuvshinoff, MD, MBA, Chief Medical Officer at Roswell Park and a specialist in hepatobiliary surgery, and Renuka Iyer, MD, co-head of the Liver and Pancreatic Tumor Program and co-head of the GI Translational Research Group, about with available treatment options. Fortunately, Chuck was an almost ideal candidate for a new clinical trial combining radiation seeds and immunotherapy to treat liver cancer. “The field of liver cancer has seen many exciting developments using immunotherapy and anti-angiogenic therapy. This has produced large responses that have lasted a long time and, in some cases, cures, which was very unusual for liver cancer until a few years ago,” says Dr. Iyer. “But for patients like Charles, whose disease cannot be surgically removed and has relapsed, we try to avoid lifelong immunotherapy and anti-angiogenic therapy and instead opt for something more targeted at his liver when we can, like radiation seeds . which is seldom a cure.’ Chuck’s cancer needed a different treatment approach — this clinical trial offered one. For his cancer, the combination therapy of radiation seeds inserted into his liver near the tumors, in addition to immunotherapy and antiangiogenic therapy, was a stunning success: After just one treatment, his tumor shrank by 33 percent. “Radiation seeds usually don’t cure patients,” says Dr. Iyer. “Between 25 and 50% of patients get a response, but a cure is rare. We were able to enroll him in this trial and, within six months of treatment, he had a complete response and no visible disease. This is remarkable, very exciting and promising. We will be presenting our first findings at a conference in January and Charles is the lead author of the study. He is the first patient to have a complete response and in a very short period of time.” Why Roswell Park for Liver Cancer Treatment? In addition to the comprehensive, multidisciplinary cancer care that Roswell Park provides, we are also designated by the National Cancer Institute as one of the nation’s elite cancer centers. Learn more about what sets us apart. learn more
Leap of faith
Chuck and Luann say they had no hesitation in participating in the study. They believe in taking advantage of opportunities presented to them and have a strong shared sense of belief that everything happens for a reason. “We’re devout Christians and we prayed about it,” Luan says of the trial. “We just thought that’s what we had to do. We think Roswell Park was there at the right time. If it wasn’t for his hepatitis, we might have missed the cancer. He might have been stage 4 by the time we knew he was sick.” Chuck still goes in for his routine liver scans every few months, but he managed to ring the Victory Bell – with Luann and their service dog, Duchess, by his side to celebrate the end of his treatment in October. He’s happy that his participation in the trial might be useful for others like him — and so is Dr. Iyer. “This could become the standard treatment for liver cancer in the future,” he says. “The message to people is to come and participate in clinical trials like this. If you have liver cancer, come to an organization like Roswell Park where we have testing available. People who have participated in a trial benefit from treatments years before the results are out and a standard selection is made. If you want to get tomorrow’s treatment today, become part of a clinical trial. Patients like him give us doctors a lot of hope. Treating cancers that have historically had poor outcomes can also be burdensome for doctors. We want to have some of these stories to lift our spirits. We like to have some Charles in our midst.”
