Sometimes. And that word carries more weight today than it ever did before. Because immunotherapy has done things for certain Stage 4 patients that genuinely shocked the oncology world. Not for everyone. Not for every cancer. But for some people sitting in rooms where they’d been told options were running out, immunotherapy changed everything. That’s not marketing. That’s real.
According to Dr. Sandeep Nayak, cancer specialist in Bangalore, “Some of my Stage 4 patients on immunotherapy are doing things their diagnosis said they shouldn’t be able to do anymore and that never gets old.”
What Can Immunotherapy Actually Do at Stage 4?
People walk in having Googled immunotherapy and they’ve either built it up into a miracle cure or dismissed it entirely. Neither is right. Here’s what’s actually happening.
- It Unlocks Your Own Body to Fight Back: Cancer is clever. It puts biological brakes on your immune system so it can’t attack tumour cells. Immunotherapy removes those brakes completely and lets your body do what it was built to do.
- Real Complete Remissions Do Happen at Stage 4: In melanoma and certain lung cancers a genuinely meaningful number of Stage 4 patients have achieved full remission. Not temporary control. Full remission. Years later still clear.
- But It’s Deeply Cancer Type Dependent: Some cancers respond extraordinarily well. Others barely respond at all. And that difference isn’t random. It’s biological and it’s measurable before you even start treatment.
- For Others It Buys Years That Weren’t on the Table Before: Even when cure isn’t the outcome immunotherapy has turned what used to be a six month prognosis into two years, three years, sometimes more for certain patients.
In cases of cancers where a high degree of accuracy in tumour removal is demanded in anatomically complex regions, innovative robotic surgery technologies are becoming a popular method of enhancing the accuracy of surgery and recovery in patients.
When Does Immunotherapy Genuinely Disappoint?
This part matters just as much as the success stories. Because walking into immunotherapy with the wrong expectations causes real damage in ways that go beyond just the treatment itself.
- Pancreatic Cancer Barely Responds to Current Options: It’s one of the hardest cancers to treat with immunotherapy and patients who arrive expecting the melanoma results are often devastated when the biology just doesn’t cooperate.
- Your Tumour Needs Specific Biological Markers to Respond: Without PD-L1 expression or high microsatellite instability the chances of meaningful response drop significantly regardless of how badly you want it to work.
- The Side Effects Can Hit Places You Don’t Expect: Immunotherapy can turn your immune system against your own healthy organs causing inflammation in your lungs, liver, joints and gut that needs careful specialist management quickly.
- Sometimes It Works Beautifully and Then Just Stops: Some patients respond brilliantly for eight months and then develop resistance. That’s not failure. That’s biology. But it means monitoring throughout treatment is absolutely non-negotiable.
In the case of early diagnosis and localisation of the cancer, the novel laparoscopic surgery methods can promote successful removal of the tumour using smaller incisions and shorter recovery time in the right patients.
Why Choose Dr. Sandeep Nayak for Cancer Treatment in Bangalore?
Dr. Sandeep Nayak has spent over 24 years treating cancers that push every boundary of what medicine can currently offer. He doesn’t just perform surgery. He coordinates across surgical, medical and immunotherapy pathways to make sure every single patient gets evaluated for every option that genuinely fits their biology. He orders full molecular profiling before any treatment decision is made. He reads the markers. He asks the questions most doctors skip past. And then he sits down and explains everything in language a real person can actually understand and act on. Not textbook language. Not rushed clinic language. Real human conversation about what comes next and why.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Stage 4 cancers have the best chance of responding to immunotherapy?
Melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer, bladder cancer and certain head and neck cancers currently show the strongest and most consistent real world responses.
How does your doctor know if immunotherapy will actually work for you specifically?
Molecular profiling including PD-L1 expression and microsatellite instability testing tells your oncologist whether your tumour biology is likely to respond meaningfully.
How long before you know whether immunotherapy is working or not?
Most oncologists assess initial response after two to three months through repeat imaging and careful monitoring of symptoms and tumour markers together.
Can immunotherapy and surgery actually be combined for Stage 4 patients?
Yes, in carefully selected cases immunotherapy before or after surgery improves outcomes significantly and combination approaches are increasingly standard in good cancer treatment centres.
Reference links:
- National Cancer Institute – Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors
https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/types/immunotherapy/checkpoint-inhibitors - American Cancer Society – Immunotherapy for Cancer
https://www.cancer.org/cancer/managing-cancer/treatment-types/immunotherapy.html -
Disclaimer: The information shared in this content is for educational purposes and not for promotional use.
