Pneumonitis as a complication of Immunotherapy of oncological diseases: difficulties in diagnosis and treatment

Pneumonitis is one of the life-threatening complications of immunotherapy of oncological diseases. Despite the low occurrence rate, pneumonitis significantly affects not only the quality of life in the patients, but also the mortality, forcing to change the treatment scheme of the main disease. Therapy with immune checkpoint blockers is a relatively new, but well established type of oncology therapy. It is expected that, with the extension of the list of indications to immunotherapy, some growth would be observed in the number of complications, due to which it becomes necessary to inform the physicians of various (not only oncological) specialties about it. It is important for them to maintain high index of suspicion to be able to detect this life-threatening complication at the early stages and to prescribe adequate treatment. The currently known research works by national and foreign authors on the detection and treatment of pneumonitis in their majority have a strictly specialized type due to studying a specific immunotherapy medicine or a specific location of the tumor. In the present article, we have summarized and systematized the data from various sources, emphasizing on the diagnostics and therapy of this dangerous complication.