As checkpoint inhibitors spread into earlier-stage and consolidation settings, more clinicians will manage their toxicities. Immune-related adverse events can strike almost any organ — colitis, pneumonitis, hepatitis, thyroid and others — often weeks into treatment and sometimes after it has stopped.
Ask about new symptoms at every visit, keep a low threshold to investigate, and for anything beyond mild, hold the drug and start corticosteroids promptly. Endocrine effects are the usual exception, managed with hormone replacement while treatment continues.
- Ask about new symptoms in any organ system at every checkpoint-inhibitor visit.
- For moderate-to-severe immune-related events, hold the drug and start corticosteroids early.
- Manage endocrine effects (thyroid, adrenal) with hormone replacement, often without stopping therapy.
- Remember these events can appear after treatment ends, not only during it.
Why it matters
As immunotherapy moves into consolidation and earlier disease, more clinicians will meet its toxicities, which are treatable when caught early.
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