We have been following the story of 66 year old Oscar winning actor Michael Douglas’ diagnosis of stage 4 throat cancer, as well the treatment options and prognosis of his disease.
The latest heartening news on the subject is that 7 weeks of intense radiation and chemotherapy has got rid of the throat tumor and that Michael Douglas is now tumor free, having achieved what is called a ‘complete response to treatment’!
Of Douglas’s inspirational story, throat cancer expert Gady Har-El, MD, chair of head and neck surgery at New York’s Lenox Hill Hospital said that this is an extremely good sign.
What one has to understand here however is that Douglas is not completely out of the woods yet, with the propensity that cancer has of recurring – for this reason the next three years are of utmost importance.
Douglas had a large inoperable tumor which had reached a ‘dangerously late stage’.
As time goes by, the odds against the tumor returning get better and if the disease doesn’t return in three years, the chances of a cure are very high indeed. He will now be required to get physical exams every month to monitor the tumor and its possible recurrence.
