Fatty liver while on immunotherapy

Forums General Melanoma Community Fatty liver while on immunotherapy

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    Spl25
    Participant

      I'm stage four and have been on anti-pd-1 for about a year now with quite abut of success. My last scan, about 3 months ago, showed steatosis (fatty liver) on my scans, although liver function tests were normal. Has anyone here had this problem? When, if ever, is it grounds for discontinuing therapy?

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        JuTMSY4
        Participant

          As I understand it, there are some toxicity concerns related to anti-pd1/pd1 drugs and elevated liver levels.  However, they are somewhat rare and typically controllable if noted.  Thus the reason they give you a blood test every time you come in.  My understanding, and you should simply consult your doc to get the in-person, educated and specific-to-you answer, is based on these elevated levels.  

          However, the easiest way to deal with fatty liver, if, as is typical, it is caused by weight, is through diet and exercise and to the extent you can do that, you certainly won't hurt your treatment.  Similarly, you should consult with your doc regarding weight loss and/or reducing/healing your fatty liver if that is the primary cause.  If it's caused by something else (alcohol or liver diseases, you should similarly discuss this with your doctor, although I hope that they already know).  

          Good luck!

            Spl25
            Participant

              Yeah I don't drink and have gained a mild amount of weight on treatment but still have normal BMI. They didn't say much about the steatosis at my last meeting, and none of the liver numbers were elevated. 

              JuTMSY4
              Participant

                Then I would discuss it with your onc and probably your primary – hopefully they'll work together to figure out what's best for you.  However, I think your onc is at least aware of both your scan results and various liver/blood levels, so rest assured they'd rather see you through the course of drugs where it's more beneficial than stopping.  

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