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Cellular therapy
CAR-T cell therapy
Your own immune cells, collected, re-engineered and returned.
Referral & opinion only
What it is
T cells are collected from your blood, modified in a laboratory to recognise a target on the tumour cell, grown in number, and infused back. The treatment is the cells themselves.
It is used in specific blood cancers, in defined situations, at a small number of licensed centres. It is a hospital-based process with a real intensive-care requirement, not an outpatient treatment.
When it is used
- In defined haematological cancers, usually after other treatments have been tried
- Only where eligibility criteria are met on disease type, prior treatment, organ function and fitness
- Sometimes within a clinical trial rather than as licensed treatment
How the decision is made
- Eligibility is assessed by the treating transplant or cellular-therapy centre, not by us. Our role is to establish whether you should be referred for that assessment at all, and to get you there with a complete file.
- Whether a trial route exists, and whether that is the more realistic path to access.
- Honest cost and logistics planning. This is among the most expensive treatments in medicine and the practical burden on a family is substantial.
Entirely at a licensed cellular-therapy centre, with inpatient admission and intensive-care backup. KPCIRC does not deliver CAR-T and does not hold cell-processing capability.
Who does what
What we handle, and what happens elsewhere
KPCIRC handles
- Assessment of whether referral is appropriate
- Case assembly and complete record preparation before referral
- Board review, including the Complex & Rare Case Board
- Trial and expanded-access search
- Cost, scheme and assistance mapping before you commit to travel
- Care coordination before and after, and survivorship follow-up on return
Performed and billed elsewhere
- Cell collection (apheresis)
- Manufacturing
- The infusion
- Inpatient and intensive care
- All monitoring during the treatment window
- Cytokine release syndrome and neurological effects are recognised risks of this treatment and are managed in-centre. This is why it is not delivered in an ordinary ward.
- We will tell you plainly if we think referral is not appropriate for you. That conversation is part of the service.
Questions to ask your own doctor
Take these with you. They work whether or not you are treated here.
- Am I actually eligible, or is this being raised as a possibility?
- Which centre, how far away, and how long would we need to stay there?
- What is the realistic total cost including travel and accommodation?
- Is there a trial that would cover it?
- What are the alternatives if this is not possible?
Support that goes with it
Where this is used
Cancers this commonly forms part of
Not sure this is the right option for you?
That is exactly what a second opinion is for. Bring what you have, we will tell you what is missing and what the alternatives actually are, in writing.