Interferon In Teenager

You are correct in understanding the research.  That is the reason my son opted not to do the interferon therapy.  He is stage III.  He did have the LND, tried for a clinical trial at NIH but was not eligible after additional blood work.  Like many, he feels that the benefit does not warrant being sick for a year with the treatment.  It is a very personal decision.  I have a sister-in-law who did the interferon and is doing well 7 years later with no re-currence.  So some people swear by it and feel they must do something and interferon is the only thing out there for stage III.

The doctors may reccommend it because it is all they have right now and it has proven to give some additional time in between re-occurence, if indeed the person is destined to have any.

there is info and discussion on the pros and cons of interferon on the www.mpip.org website that may help you. 

 Hopefully, your son will be in that l/3 of stage 3 who never have a re-currence.  I can't imagine how hard this is for you - my son is young also but not a teen. Best of luck with you decision.

Mrs. C 

On 2/5/2008 mother3 wrote:

Has anybody opted out of using interferon therapy (stage III) after their doctor recommended it?  After much research (up to date research), I found that interfeon only adds some additional months before a reoccurance and does not add to your survival rate. 

Recent studies have shown an increase in recurrence AND an increase in survival with HD IFN in stage III.  Its still a difficult decision as the treatment period is long and side effects are difficult.  In a teenager with so much to live for, I would strongly consider it.

It will be a year next month that my son had his LND.  His scans continue to be clear.  Apparently Interferon is a tough treatment but some do better than others.  I don't know if being young like your boy would make it better or worse.  I assume, being so young, he is willing to trust your judgement but I'm wondering what he has to say about it and how much he actually understands.  My son is an adult so it really was his decision and we supported whatever he decided.  If Interferon showed better statistics, he would not have hesitated to do it.  So now he is on several supplements that are supposed to boost the immune system and we pray that he will never have a recurrence.  This disease is so unpredictable - there are just as many who recur even with the interferon as those who do not so my son's rationale is why waste a year being sick, missing work, etc.  Still, many people do not consider it a waste but something that will give them some additional time, even if it is only between recurrences. Your son may be eligible for a clinical trial that has less severe side effects and at least he would be doing something. Our doc at Johns Hopkins has been impressed with the results of the the trial at NIH he recommended to my son - unfortunately he could not qualify for it. 

Try to get your boy to express his feelings - it may help to make a decision.  If I can help in any other way, please feel free to email me.

 Mrs. C

On 2/9/2008 mother3 wrote:

I appreciate your response. How long has it been for your son since his LND? This is a very difficult decision. I have many physicians in the family including my husband so there has been so much research done.  Our decision not to use Interferon came with our second opinion at Sloan Kettering.

I am sorry I cut my message short yesterday.  I was called away.  My teenager is a 15 year old girl.  Close to 2 years ago she went to a podiatrist for what we thought was a wart on her toe and he treated with acid.  I gave it a little time for healing, however, it got so much bigger and uglier that I new something was wrong.  There are several steps in between but ultimately we went to Columbia in NY.  She had her toe amputated and a SNB was performed which came back positive with micromets.  She recently had a LND and all were negative.  The decision was extremely difficult (we have not talked w/her Dr. yet since our second opinion).  We went over a recent trial which showed INF therapy may add 9 months before reoccurance.  Sloan Kettering did offer a clinical trial vaccine, in which, my daughter will need a blood test to see if she is eligible and then put her name on a waiting list.  The scariest part is how doctors tell you it is a tricky cancer.

 I am happy to hear your son is doing well.  Good luck to your family.

 Mrs.S