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Ivan Pourmir (medical oncologist)
In a Sunday evening interview conducted for Seven to Eight, singer Florent Pagny announced that his fight against cancer was not over. He also talks about his choice not to have followed the protocol to the end.
A hard blow for fans of singer Florent Pagny who were hoping to see him back on stage soon. A year after revealing the existence of an “unsympathetic” cancerous tumor in the lungs, and a follow-up of six months spent between chemotherapy and rays, the artist confided in the program on Sunday evening seven to eight on TF1. His fight is not over as he could have hoped. The recent discovery of a “fixed” lymph node raises fears of a risk of metastasis.
“This is not the scenario we were hoping for”
Soberly, the singer explains to the camera, his remission, after having fought a tumor the size of a kiwi, then his choice to stop his immunotherapy treatment taken against relapses, to go rest in Patagonia. But in January, a fit of coughing challenges him, and Florent Pagny performs examinations in Argentina: “This is not the scenario we were hoping for. The images aren’t terrible, so in three days I’m going back to Paris to see what’s going on.” he announces.
Between examinations and a new biopsy, the artist also intends to resume his immunotherapy treatment, perhaps interrupted too early. “Maybe if I had been in France, I wouldn’t have this lymph node that appears like that, if I had followed the program. It’s kinda my fault” he confesses.
“If I had been in France, I might not have this ganglion. It’s a bit my fault.”
Patagonia, January 2023. #FlorentPagny announces “not terrible images” on the scanner. He must resume his immunotherapy treatment, interrupted when he left France 5 months ago. pic.twitter.com/iYib2KOz5K
— Seven to Eight (@7a8) March 5, 2023
In lung cancer, immunotherapy obtains good results
Consulted on the subject, Dr. Pourmir, oncologist and specialist in immunotherapy humbly analyzes the therapeutic course of the singer:
“Lung cancer is one of the most serious cancers and remains the leading cause of cancer death in France. The main treatment is surgery but it is not possible when the tumor has spread to other sites or when it is not accessible as seems to be the case for Florent Pagny. In this case, a protocol that combines chemotherapy with radiotherapy can be implemented, even if the performance remains modest because a high proportion of patients observe a return of the cancer despite everything. In recent years, it has been realized that giving immunotherapy, after the combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, made it possible to reduce the proportion of relapses in lung cancer. These are global results but well documented today.”
A treatment which, it seems, was not followed to the letter by Florent Pagny. A data that the oncologist takes with a lot of tweezers:
“If immunotherapy was offered to Florent Pagny, it was because there was a good hope of success. However, it remains difficult to decide on his relapse and to say that it comes from the cessation of treatment. You must also realize that it is a treatment with heavy side effects, which is restrictive because it requires going to the hospital every 3 weeks to receive a long infusion, over several months. The choice is not simple: it is offered to the patient, but it is not a question of imposing it.”
The doctor wants to be reassuring all the same. “In the case of a relapse, one can however think about resuming his immunotherapy, which can always obtain good results. There is still hope” concludes the specialist.