A retired nurse from Niles becomes the first patient at Northwestern Medicine to receive a new treatment for an advanced eye cancer.
66-year-old Bozena Wojtach was diagnosed with uveal melanoma, a rare form of eye cancer, last year.
While proton therapy was successful at treating her eye tumor, scans later revealed the cancer had spread to her liver.
Wojtach became a candidate for Hepzato Kit, which treats uveal melanoma by delivering chemotherapy directly to the liver.
“While systemic chemotherapy targets widespread disease, this therapy is more effective for patients with the majority of their disease localized to the liver, as it minimizes overall toxicity,” says Robert Lewandowski, MD, director of interventional oncology at the Lurie Cancer Center at Northwestern Medicine.
On April 3, Wojtach received the new treatment, a first for Northwestern Medicine.
“I feel energetic and free of the pain and nausea,” said Wojtach. “I feel like I’m healthy – like I have no cancer at all.”
After just two cycles of the treatment, Wojtach’s tumors were reduced by more than 50 percent.
Wojtach hopes the treatment can be adjusted to help other forms of cancer, as well.
"Hopefully, that's gonna be the future for other cancer patients, too."