Toxicity: immunotherapy vs chemotherapy

Benjamin Besse, MD, PhD, from the Gustave Roussy Cancer Institute, Paris, France, discusses toxicity associated with immunotherapy at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2017 in Madrid, Spain. Immunotherapies are typically perceived as being less toxic than other systemic treatments, such as chemotherapy, however, this isn’t always the case. The toxicities with immunotherapy tend to be autoimmune related, and therefore can affect any organ in the body. Depending on how severe these side effects are, the therapy might need to be stopped, and the patient referred to a specialist.