Immunotherapy in Oncology in a Countryside City of Minas Gerais: Analysis of the decade 2010-2019

Abstract

Introduction: In recent years, systemic therapy in oncology has undergone substantial changes and immunotherapy has spread out as a form of adjuvant treatment. In Brazil, differences of access to this therapy are relevant and there is still no extensive knowledge about the use of immunotherapy in different regions of the country. Objective: To analyze the panorama of immunotherapy in cancer treatment in Barbacena-MG in the last decade. Method: Single-centre descriptive study. Patients over 18 years diagnosed with cancer who used immunotherapies in the period from 2010 to 2019 were selected by reviewing the Hospital Cancer Registry and the information contained in this system, as well as charts, were used to obtain sociodemographic and clinical data. Results: Immunotherapy was used to treat 90 patients (4.9%), totalling 95 treatments. Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), trastuzumab and imatinib were the drugs most used. There was an increase in the use of immunotherapeutic agents over the decade, as well as in the variety of treatments performed. Imatinib and pazopanib had a higher percentage of deaths during treatment and 77.9% of the drugs used were funded by the Unified Health System (SUS). Treatment duration for most patients remained close to 10 months, being shorter for those who were treated with BCG. Conclusion: The use of immunotherapy in oncology in Barbacena has grown from 2010 to 2019, in number and variety of treatments, with incorporation of new drugs.