Oscar-winning actor and producer Michael Douglas is to undergo eight weeks of chemo and radiotherapy to treat a throat tumor.
A spokesperson for the 65 year-old Hollywood star of the film Wall Street told PEOPLE magazine on Monday that doctors expect him to make a full recovery.
In a press statement, Douglas said he was “very optimistic”.
The statement gave no information on the diagnosis and how advanced the tumor is, but if the doctors are confident of a full recovery then it suggests it has been caught early.
Even though eight weeks of chemo and radiotherapy suggests it is a serious tumor, many types of throat cancer can be cured if found early.
A specialist in head and neck cancers, who is not involved with Douglas’ treatment, told Fox News that many throat cancers are localized in the body.
Dr. Lawrence Tena, from the Beth Israel Comprehensive cancer Center in New York City where he is an attending radiation and oncology physician said if the tumor is localized, then it has not spread below the collar bone or clavicle.
“The body has the ability to keep cancers above the clavicle; it is just the nature of the immune system and lymphatic system,” said Tena, explaining that 60 to 70 per cent of patients survive, even with advanced throat cancers.
Many news reports are mentioning the possibility that the treatment may affect the actor’s voice. If he has to have surgery to remove his voice box then it will affect it permanently, but if his treatment is limited to chemo and radiotherapy then it is possible that his voice may be temporarily affected because the radiation can cause burning in the throat.
Douglas stars in the Wall Street sequel Money Never Sleeps, due to be released in movie theatres worldwide late September. The film, directed by Oliver Stone, is a sequel to the 1987 film that propelled Douglas to celebrity status: he plays the same character, Gordon Gecko, some 20 years older, and the film is set around the 2008 financial crisis.
Earlier this year, 31 year-old Cameron Douglas, son of Michael Douglas and his first wife, 51 year-old Diandra Lucas, was sentenced to five years in prison for dealing in methamphetamine and possessing heroin.
The judge in the case described Douglas and his ex-wife as “distant … problematic … and immature” parents.
Michael Douglas wrote a five page letter to the judge pleading leniency for his son, suggesting that a family history of drug and alcohol abuse had contributed towards his behavior.
In reference to himself, he said he was often absent during his son’s childhood, and in the 1990s had received treatment at an Arizona clinic for alcohol abuse. His brother Eric had also died of a drug overdose in 2004.
Michael Douglas is the son of Kirk Douglas, a film actor who is on the American Film Institute’s list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time.
Douglas has two other children with Catherine Zeta Jones, whom he married in 2000.
Among the risk factors for throat cancer, the Mayo Clinic lists excessive use of alcohol, chewing and smoking tobacco, a diet lacking in fruits and vegetables, and poor dental hygiene.
Sources: People, Fox News, wikipedia, BBC News, Mayo Clinic.
Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD