2024-03-22 22:38:56
After Kate Middleton’s cancer announcement this Friday, several questions remain. What cancer does the Princess of Wales suffer from? What does its treatment consist of? Is his condition serious?
Prince William’s wife said she was undergoing “preventive chemotherapy” to treat cancer, the nature of which she did not specify, discovered after an “abdominal operation” in January.
Explanations with doctors.
What is preventive chemotherapy?
Preventive chemotherapy, also called adjuvant chemotherapy, is usually offered after surgery to “reduce the risk of cancer coming back and spreading” in the body via the spread of cancer cells in the blood, says Lawrence Young, professor of oncology. at the British University of Warwick.
Because even after successful surgery, “microscopic cancer cells can remain lurking in the body without being able to be detected,” said the expert, interviewed by the British Science Media Center (SMC).
For Andrew Beggs, a surgeon at the University of Birmingham, “it’s a bit like cleaning a floor with bleach when you’ve spilled something on it.”
What is it intended for?
Chemotherapy is intended to kill cancer cells, without distinguishing them from healthy, useful ones, such as white blood cells. Which leads to side effects.
These effects vary depending on the nature of the cancer and the profile of the people it affects, but they generally lead to nausea, loss of appetite, diarrhea and increased risk of infection (due to a reduction in white blood cells). Some rarer effects can cause sepsis and damage to vital organs.
How long does the treatment last?
The duration of treatment varies, again, depending on the nature of the tumors. But a traditional chemotherapy regimen is often administered in four or six sessions, says Bob Phillips, professor of pediatric oncology at the University of York.
A cycle can last 21 days and “consists of a day or a few days of chemo, then recovery time for the body,” explains the expert.
Preventive chemotherapy regimens tend to last three to six months. And it can take weeks or even months to recover from treatment.
Can the princess’s age (42) make a difference?
Does the age of the patient make a difference? Difficult to answer, but “cancers appearing at a young age are by no means rare,” emphasizes surgeon Andrew Beggs. “I run a clinic for early-onset cancers in adults and we are seeing more and more people in their forties with cancer,” he says.
Shivan Sivakumar, an oncology expert at the University of Birmingham, argues that “there is currently an epidemic” of people under 50 suffering from cancer. “We don’t know the cause, but we are seeing more patients with abdominal cancers,” he added.
More cancers but more chance of cure
Research published last week in the journal BMJ found that cancer cases among Britons aged 35 to 69 had increased over the past quarter of a century.
This work also found that the number of deaths from cancer had decreased significantly. Younger people are also more likely to survive cancer. “The incidental discovery of cancer during surgery for other pathologies is often associated with early detection of the tumor, and the chemotherapy that follows is much more effective,” argues Professor Young.
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