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Immunotherapy visual tour

This tour will describe the events that will take place if you visit St. Luke's to learn about or receive immunotherapy treatment.

Before you arrive, a nurse coordinator will be assigned to you to ensure individualized care throughout your treatment in all areas of our hospital. Your nurse coordinator will work as a partner with your home physician and the immunotherapy physician at St. Luke's.

When you first come to St. Luke's, enter the main hospital and take the elevators down to the 1st floor to find the Vince Lombardi Cancer Clinic.

In the clinic, ask the receptionist for your immunotherapy nurse coordinator. Your nurse coordinator will take you on a tour of the Clinic so that you may see where patients receive outpatient treatment.

Immunotherapy treatment may include immune system cells, interleukin 2, interferon and/or chemotherapy.

Then, your nurse coordinator will arrange for a tour of the Immunotherapy Program, which is just across the hall from the clinic.

The Immunotherapy Program is a state-of-the-art facility that conducts cancer research and produces the latest immune system cellular therapies for patients with cancer.

If you would like to see how cellular therapies are produced click here The researchers in the Immunotherapy Program work side-by-side with the nurse coordinators and physicians to provide the latest technology and personalized care.

Your nurse coordinator will discuss opportunities for treatment and provide information that you may need to make your decision.

If needed, your nurse coordinator will help to arrange appointments with the immunotherapy physician specialists. For information about individual staff members click here.

Cells

This virtual tour will describe the methods to produce your cellular therapy in the Immunotherapy Program.

Immune system cells will be obtained from your blood through a process called leukapheresis.

A catheter (tube) will be placed in a vein in your upper chest. Blood will be removed through the tube to go through a blood cell separator. This machine will remove blood cells that are needed and will return the rest of your blood to your body.

Some of your blood cells will be collected into a bag on the machine. The process of may take 5 hours to complete. The amount of cells that will be taken will not make you more susceptible to infections.

The blood cells in the bag will contain some of your immune system cells. The bag will be taken to the cell processing laboratory where they will be manipulated to increase their cancer-killing ability.

The laboratory process may take 2-4 weeks to complete. Your immune system cells may be cryopreserved for storage until they are needed for treatment.

The bag containing your immune system cells will be taken to the Vince Lombardi Cancer Clinic, where they will be given back to you through a needle inserted into a vein in your arm. The treatment may take 30-60 minutes. You may be given a number of immune system cell treatments over a period of time.

If you have any questions regarding these procedures, please click here for our contact information.