Israeli Drug Helps Jimmy Carter Beat Cancer

Former US President and Habitat for Humanity’s leading public figure, Jimmy Carter, announced recently that he’s getting some extra years in life after revealing the good news to his fellow churchgoers at Maranatha Baptist Congregation in Plains, Georgia this Sunday.

“I would also tell my patient that the focused radiation only treats the known cancer in the brain, and that if other small areas of cancer are present, they will likely eventually grow large enough to need radiation or other treatment as well, and that periodic brain scans will be required to monitor for this possibility”.

(HealthDay)-Former President Jimmy Carter’s remarkable response to his treatment for brain cancer can be chalked up in part to significant recent advances in medicine, cancer experts say. Fortunately, a previous MRI test showed the spots of cancer that had developed on his brain were responding to treatment, he said.

A spokesman for Emory’s Winship Cancer Institute, where Carter is being treated, declined to comment Sunday due to patient privacy. He also shared that the cancer had spread from his liver to his brain, where it was found in four spots.

Dr. Leonard Lichtenfeld, the deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society, added, “It’s so important not to give up”.

He said he would continue to receive regular doses of pembrolizumab, a new treatment that is part of a promising class of drugs that harness the body’s immune system to fight cancer. “Circumstances may change over time or he may be in a situation where it does not recur for many years or at all”.

Cancer cells develop receptors that basically cloak them from the immune system, preventing the body from recognizing and targeting the abnormal cells, Demopoulos said. “That’s incredible progress in a short period of time”.

“I’m happy for him, but it’s very unusual, especially in older men, who usually have a worse prognosis”, said Rigel.

Turnham said six drugs have been approved since 2011. In August, he began a treatment regimen involving a very targeted type of radiation therapy and prembrolizumab which has a history of helping some melanoma patients to live several months or even years longer than what could be expected.

Mr. Carter, who is 91 has been under treatment for metastatic melanoma ever since August. In October, he announced he was also working with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s heirs to help mediate their dispute over whether to sell their father’s 1964 Nobel Peace Prize medal and the Bible he carried during the civil rights movement. “We would resume therapy and follow-up any autoimmune side effects”. However, it could be another 3 to 5 years before Mr. Carter can be declared to have been completely cured.