CAR T Treatment Overview
CAR T treatment is a revolutionary type of blood cancer treatment that programs a patient’s own altered white blood cells to kill cancer cells. Advanced technology is used to separate white blood cells (an essential part of your immune system) from the rest of your blood cells. The white blood cells are then sent to a specialized laboratory, where they are engineered to produce specific chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) on their surface. Before returning these cells to the patient, they are multiplied in a laboratory in order to obtain millions of modified cells.
These CAR T-cells are then injected back into your bloodstream. Now, the new CARs can help the modified cells latch on to the coordinating antigen on tumor cells – effectively hunting down and killing cancerous cells.
When other blood cancer treatments fail, CAR T treatment has worked, putting some people’s cancers into remission. A significant benefit of CAR T treatment is that it not only instructs the T-cell to kill cancer, but it also triggers the T cell to grow and divide. Therefore, after just one CAR T treatment, the cells remain in your body and continue to attack the tumor for months or even years.
CAR T treatment is highly specialized and personalized, and it is available at a limited number of cancer centers around the world. At Sheba Medical Center in Israel, our oncologists have trained at premier medical institutions and we are pleased to offer this breakthrough treatment. Our physicians provide CAR T treatment with a customized and holistic approach that pays attention to your unique needs and the overall well-being of your whole body.
Diseases Treated by CAR T Treatment
At Sheba, we offer treatments for the following types of cancer:
Side Effects of CAR T Treatment
In general, most patients who receive CAR T treatment do not experience the typical side effects that are associated with chemotherapy, such as nausea, vomiting, and hair loss. However, there are risks of other serious side effects. Because CAR T-cell treatment is given as a one-time infusion (and not in sessions, like chemotherapy), most of the possible complications occur within the first one to two weeks after treatment. They are usually temporary and can be resolved with medication. It is extremely important to communicate with your medical team at Sheba, so our skilled doctors can help to alleviate and manage your side effects.
The most common side effects include:
- Cytokine release syndrome, which involves symptoms that resemble the flu – high fever, chills, low blood pressure, muscle or joint pain, shortness of breath, and a fast heart rate. These symptoms can range from mild to severe.
- Neurologic difficulties, such as confusion, tiredness, seizures, agitation, aphasia (difficulty with speech or understanding), encephalopathy (brain malfunction, disease, injury), and loss of balance.
- Anemia (low red blood cell count)
- Neutropenia (low white blood cell count)
How is CAR T Treatment Given?
Testing for Candidacy:
T-Cell Collection:
Cell Engineering:
Growing T-cells:
Chemotherapy:
Infusing T-cells:
Recovery:
Follow-up:
Patient Testimonial – After CAR T Treatment
“Like a bolt from the blue…” That was Sam Turel’s reaction when first diagnosed with chronic lymphoproliferative disease. Sam had enjoyed an active full life, but when he heard the words “blood cancer,” he fell into acute despair. After years of initial treatments slowed him down, he was later diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). It was time to seek an advanced treatment method, and Sam chose Sheba for CAR-T treatment.Read Sam’s story and the role CAR-T therapy played in it.
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Sheba Medical Center provides innovative, personalized medical care to patients from around the world. We are the largest, most comprehensive hospital in the Middle East and dedicated to providing advanced and compassionate medicine for everyone. We welcome all cases, including the rarest and the most challenging. Our medical teams collaborate to provide the best possible health outcomes. From your initial inquiry through the long-term follow-up care, we are here for you.
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