HealthDay: Immunotherapy drug did not increase adverse surgery events

A University of Cincinnati study found administering an immunotherapy drug before surgery for oral cavity cancer did not lead to increased rates of complications during and after surgery.

HealthDay featured the research, recently published in JAMA Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery, that evaluated outcomes during and after surgery when patients with head and neck cancer were given the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab prior to surgery.

"What we found was that patients who received preoperative treatment with immunotherapy did not have an increase in morbidities around the time of surgery,” said Alice Tang, MD, first author on the study, assistant professor of clinical otolaryngology in UC’s College of Medicine, a UC Health physician and a University of Cincinnati Cancer Center member.

Read the HealthDay article.

Read more about the research.

Featured photo at top of Alice Tang, MD, center, with patient. Photo provided by UC Health.