India news
Yuvraj recovery on track
February 16, 2012
Cricket +
Yuvraj Singh has shown a "slightly better than expected" response to his first cycle of chemotherapy to counter a germ-cell tumour called mediastinal seminoma. His medical team in India and the USA will however arrive at a definitive conclusion after conducting a CT scan at the end of his nine weeks of treatment.
Explaining Yuvraj's progress, Dr Nitesh Rohatgi, a senior medical oncologist at Delhi's Max Cancer Centre who is co-ordinating the treatment with doctors in the USA, told ESPNcricinfo that Yuvraj's blood tests and X-rays were "positive and we know that the treatment is working".
Rohatgi was speaking after Yuvraj's upbeat tweet [below] late on Wednesday night about his progress. "We can only be certain after the CT scan at the end of the treatment," Rohatgi said. "We have to give him enough chemo to melt it [the tumour] all down and also to aim at preventing it from recurring."
The "Dr Lawrence" Yuvraj was referring to in his tweet is Dr Lawrence Einhorn, who headed the treatment of cycling champion Lance Armstrong in 1996. Armstrong had been diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of testicular cancer and was given a 40% chance of survival. Einhorn is regarded as the pioneer of life-saving treatment for testicular cancer, increasing survival levels up to 90%, and an expert in the chemotherapy used to tackle seminoma. Though he largely focusses on research these days, he has taken on Yuvraj's case. On Tuesday, Armstrong sent Yuvraj a personal message of support.
The chemotherapy that Yuvraj will undergo involves nine weeks of a combination of three cancer drugs - bleomycin, ciplatin and etoposide - in three cycles. He has finished the first of the cycles that included a combination of the drugs every day for five days and then, after a week's gap, two days of a different schedule of the drugs. A week's gap follows, at which point the next cycle begins with five straight days of the drugs. His second cycle began on Wednesday.
"The cycles work this way," Rohatgi said, "because you want to maximise effect and minimise side-effects. This is the most commonly used and the most effective treatment, and this is going to keep him most physically fit."
Once the after-effects of his first cycle of chemotherapy began to wear off, Yuvraj tried light rounds of cardio-vascular exercises, like jogging and cycling, in the gym. He had spoken to Rohatgi at length on Thursday, to understand the interpretations of the results of the first round of his chemotherapy.
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