Younger patients can tolerate higher doses of chemotherapy says professor as ... trends now
Younger patients can tolerate higher higher doses of chemotherapy, experts have said.
Kate Middleton announced yesterday that she is undergoing a course of preventive chemotherapy, following a surgery in January which revealed the presence of cancerous cells.
The aim is that this process, also known as adjuvant chemotherapy, will stop cancer coming back once the main tumour has been removed from the body.
Cancer specialist at the University of Birmingham, Professor Andrew Beggs described the treatment 'a bit like mopping a floor with bleach when you've spilt something on it, chemotherapy kills any spilt cells'.
But he added some hope that 'young people also better tolerate higher doses of chemotherapy and so can be given stronger regimens that are more likely to kill any left-over cells.'
William with his three children shared in December 2020. The aim is that the treatment, also known as adjuvant chemotherapy, will stop cancer coming back once the main tumour has been removed from the body
The Princess of Wales said her family (pictured together on December 25) 'need some time, space and privacy while I complete my treatment'
Approximately 375,000 cases of cancer are spotted in the UK each year, with 167,000 patients also dying from the disease per annum.
Survival rates vary significantly by type of cancer, but in general around 50 per cent of cancer patients will be alive 10-years after their diagnosis.
Lawrence Young, professor of molecular oncology at the University of Warwick, has said that contracting the disease when you are young like Kate, 42, means that your survival chance is higher.
He added that because Kate's cancer was found by chance, while undergoing surgery for another condition it is likely to be in the early stages.
'[The discovery] is often associated with the tumour being detected at an early stage when subsequent chemotherapy is much more effective,' he said.
Cancer survival rates have doubled over the last 50 years, according to data published by Cancer Research UK (CRUK).
However Dr Shivan Sivakumar, an associate professor in oncology at the University of Birmingham, has warned of the rise in people under the age of fifty being diagnosed
