Jimmy Carter says he does not need more of Cancer Treatment Drug

Jimmy Carter announced on Sunday that no longer need treatment for cancer, less than seven months after revealing he had been diagnosed with melanoma spread to her brain.

Carter, 91, shared the news on one of his regular Sunday school class at Maranatha Baptist Church in the town of his Plains, Georgia.

Carter always starts her lessons with a brief update on their recent activities. This week, Carter told the class, received an MRI that lasts longer than 2 hours.

"And then doctors determined he did not need any more treatment," Carter said in a video posted by WXIA-TV. "So I'll have no more no treatment."

He smiled as the audience applauds.

Carter spokeswoman Deanna Congileo said in an email Sunday that doctors continue to perform scans to ensure that they have not returned the cancer cells, and Carter will "resume treatment if necessary." A spokesman for Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, where Carter has been treated, declined to comment on Sunday, citing patient privacy.

Carter treatment plan for the aggressive form of cancer, including a round of radiation directed to various tumors in the brain and the dose of a drug immune stimulation every three weeks from August to February. The drug, Keytruda, was approved shortly before the announcement of Carter and helps your body to seek and destroy cancer cells.

Medical experts have called Keytruda and similar drugs for immune therapy "game changer" for patients with melanoma. But drugs are relatively new, and doctors are still learning about how to be used and for how long, said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society. He is not involved in treating Carter.

"Some people believe they should be used whenever a patient is doing well, some feel the drugs should continue for a period of time and then be stopped," Lichtenfeld said. "This is clearly a (decision) based on the evidence specific individual to the president and made with their doctors."

Dr. Douglas Johnson, a melanoma specialist at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center who is not trying to Carter, said the FDA did not provide a specific end date for patients see improvement while taking drugs. Patients who see the results may want to stop, but the battle with the fear that cancer might return, he said.

"This has become a very difficult issue," Johnson said. "We can say that patients who have stopped treatment have continued doing very well, but the drug has been in less than 10 years. If all patients have the same results, we do not know."

Carter made another unexpected announcement about his health on December 1st class telling the audience that a recent analysis of their brain detects any signs of cancer. At that time, Carter said the group planned to continue receiving Keytruda dose every three weeks. It has been said that the drug caused few side effects.

Jill Stuckey, a member of Maranatha Baptist Church, said in a telephone interview that Carter updates have become "a model for our church."

"President Carter comes in, tells us great news and we all applaud," Stuckey, also a close friend of Carter said. "We're all a bunch of nerves wondering how things are going, because you never know from looking at someone."

Carter has been active throughout their treatment, including participation in a construction project with Habitat for Humanity. He also continued to work at the Carter Center, the human rights organization he founded after leaving the White House, contrary to their initial plans to take a step back during treatment.

Tim Turnham, executive director of the Foundation for Research on melanoma, according to the age of Carter or busy schedule may have been a factor in the decision to discontinue treatment.

"When you have a drug that is working to keep cancer at bay, which is a difficult decision to stop," Turnham, who is not involved with treating Carter said. "It really becomes a conversation between the patient and his doctor."

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