Health Newsfeed
CHEMO PLUS RADIATION SAVES VOICE IN LARYNX CANCER
CHEMO PLUS RADIATION SAVES VOICE IN LARYNX CANCER
ANCHOR LEAD: Using both chemotherapy and radiation together may preserve the voice in many patients with larynx cancer, Elizabeth Tracey reports.
When someone hears a diagnosis of larynx cancer, the biggest concern is often the prospect of being mute. Arlene Forastiere, an oncologist at Johns Hopkins, has compared three treatments in these patients, and says removal of the voice box is often not necessary if patients are able to tolerate chemotherapy and radiation together.
Forastiere: What we showed was that with the administration of the chemotherapy and radiation together that 88 percent of the patients preserved their larynx in other words only 12 percent or 12 of a hundred people who were enrolled in that study ultimately required laryngectomy. :21
Forastiere says side effects of this double treatment can include an especially sore throat, requiring that patients be followed closely by a team of specialists. Yet even with its probable side effects, for the 13,000 people who are diagnosed with larynx cancer each year in the US this study provides a welcome alternative to losing their voice.
At the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, I'm Elizabeth Tracey reporting.
