Venezuela's Chavez has shot at a cure: doctors

[Judi Lynn]

Venezuela's Chavez has shot at a cure: doctors
By Julie Steenhuysen
CHICAGO | Sat Feb 25, 2012 10:22am EST

(Reuters) - As Hugo Chavez heads to Cuba to have surgery on a second lesion in his pelvis, medical experts say the Venezuelan president still has a chance to be cured, but he may have to battle fatigue as he campaigns for re-election in October.

After declaring himself cancer-free last October, Chavez now says he has a 2 centimeter (0.79 inch) lesion in the same pelvic area where doctors in Cuba removed a baseball-sized tumor during his original treatment last year.

Doctors say the fact that Chavez' cancer has returned is worrisome, but the second surgery will give him one more chance at a cure.

"If it is localized and they can get it out and they get good, clean surgical margins, there is a 20 to 25 percent chance that he could be cured," said Dr. Richard Schilsky, a specialist in gastrointestinal cancers at University of Chicago Medicine who is not treating Chavez.

More:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/25/us-venezuela-chavez-idUSTRE81N18C20120225?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&rpc=401

[MADem]

1. Brazil has some of the best doctors in the world for this sort of thing.

State of the art treatment facilities, too. He should have gone there in the first place if he didn't want to deal with the US.

The Cubans are good, but they aren't "state of the art." They get their impressive medical results through hard work and preventive care, by and large.

20 percent, even 25, is not good odds. Talk about a backhanded article, where the headline says one thing, and the opinions expressed in the story say another. A more accurate headline is 75 to 80 % Chance Chavez's Cancer is Terminal.

Of course, that's just one doctor's opinion, and he is, as the article notes, not treating the guy. I know a guy who hung on for two years beyond all expectations--different type of cancer, though. The will to live was strong; the quality of life towards the end wasn't too swift, unfortunately.

In time, all will be revealed.

[joshcryer]

2. They also don't know what he has.

I take it all with a grain of salt.

The fact that another tumor has shown up could mean that it has spread, and as far as I understand, once that happens you're in the terminal stage. Even if they get this small tumor there could be dozens more waiting to crop up in short order.

I do wish him the best of health though and a strong recovery.

[MADem]

4. Well, unless Hugo himself is lying, we know he has some kind of cancer.

He has said so.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/25/hugo-chavez-cancer_n_1301102.html

The leftist president was given a clean bill of health last fall and had declared himself cancer-free, but last week Cuban doctors found a new, smaller growth in the same part of his body. Chavez has said the growth is probably malignant but hasn't revealed what kind of cancer he has.

As for the specifics, I agree with you that we need that grain of salt. There's no way to know what's really going on--at least not contemporaneously.

I remember a while back, when people were speculating about cancer, that the denials were strong and fierce. Those kind of went by the wayside when even Hugo acknowledged that was the issue.

[ocpagu]

5. If the tumor had appeared in other part of his body, it would be worrisome...

...since it could indicate metastasis.

The reincidence of the tumor in the same place is quite common (it only takes a number of affected cells not being removed), it doesn't mean the patient is in terminal stage.

I have a friend who has operated her leg 13 times for removal of tumors. They all occured in the same place. She spent 7 years fighting against cancer. Went through chemotherapy, radiotherapy. She's been free of occurences for the last 10 years, and has been considered cured by her doctors.