Chemo An Option For Throat Cancer

Chemotherapy that preserves a patient’s voice box and ability to speak is just as effective as surgery in treating some types of throat cancer, a study suggests.

Cancer experts say these and other recent findings give new choices in how to treat the disease.

A randomized clinical trial involving about 200 patients with cancer of the throat showed that those who were treated with chemotherapy followed by radiation had a survival rate at least equal to patients treated first with a surgery that included removal of the voice box.

The study, conducted by the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer, is being published today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.