Actor Michael Douglas, 66, says his throat cancer tumour is gone and that he's feeling confident that he's beaten the disease. But some doctors say his optimism may be a bit premature.
In an interview with U.S. morning news show "Today," Douglas told co-host Matt Lauer, that "the tumour is gone."
"I think the odds are, with the tumour gone and what I know about this particular type of cancer, that I've got it beat," the actor said.
A portion of the interview aired Tuesday; the full interview will air on "Dateline NBC" on Jan. 23.
The "Wall Street" actor had announced in August that he had a tumour at the base of tongue and had been diagnosed with Stage IV throat cancer. He said he was undergoing eight weeks of radiation and chemotherapy, a treatment regimen considered typical for large throat cancers.
But while Douglas is upbeat that he's put the disease behind him, oncologists say it's likely too early to say he is out of the woods and cancer-free.
Throat cancers like Douglas' -- technically called oropharyngeal cancers -- are often diagnosed in the later stages, doctors say, because the disease produces few symptoms, beyond a sore throat or changes to the voice and sometimes, ear pain.
"It's very hard to detect and unfortunately, it tends to be very far advanced at the time of presentation," surgical oncologist Dr. Kevin Higgins of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto told CTV Toronto's Pauline Chan.
"It's not like a cancer of the skin that presents visibly with a lesion."
While Stage IV means the tumour was large and had spread to other areas, likely the lymph nodes, there are still many unknowns about Douglas' particular tumour.
The actor says his cancer was likely fuelled by alcohol and tobacco use -- a combination that's particularly lethal. Smoking- and alcohol-related throat cancers have a five-year survival rate of only about 50 to 60 per cent. They're also the kind of tumour that is responsible for about 85 per cent of head and neck cancers.
Other throat tumours are related to HPV, the human papillomavirus. While the virus was once thought to cause only cervical cancers, evidence is emerging that it is playing an increasingly large role in oral and throat cancers.
HPV-related throat cancers tend to have better treatment rates, with an 80 per cent chance of survival.
Douglas has not said whether his cancer has been shown to have been caused by HPV, though he did report at the time of his diagnosis that doctors told him he had an 80 per cent chance of recovery. Still, without clear information on the type of throat cancer he has, it's difficult to estimate his prognosis.
Higgins says it will likely be closer to five years before Douglas' doctors will be able to say for sure that the actor has put cancer behind him.
"Typically, our follow-up is at least three to five years. The majority of failures of treatment are usually in the first two years" Higgins said. "After two years, there's a substantial drop-off of failures."
Even with the tumour decreased in size to the point where it is not longer visible on scans, the risk for recurrence remains high. So for the next few months or even longer, Douglas will have to go for monthly check-ups to make sure the cancer has not returned, or that a second, new cancer has not developed.
His doctors may also continue to monitor his thyroid and pituitary gland function, since he was treated with radiation.
With a report from CTV Toronto's Pauline Chan
