my husband has nasopharyngeal cancer. He has had chemo and radiation treatment and an operation removing a 7cm gland. he went for more chemo, but his body rejected the chemo. the doctors advised mroe radiation as he still a gland under his arm.After the first chemo and radiation treatment - he had another scan and this was clear in the nasopharynx area. His blood is low and he is feeling tired all the time. Why did the chemo not work the second time and is more radiation the answer?
Hi, Thanks for writing in. Cancer is a difficult condition to treat, and it is not possible to predict the outcome before giving treatment. The usual treatment is surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Surgery is done for early cancers and that is why the doctors removed a 7 cm tumor. This is followed by single or combination chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Chemotherapy might not work because the cells are resistant to the particular medicine. If first line of medicine does not work then the second line of chemotherapy is given. If there is still no response then radiation therapy is increased in dose. The second chemotherapy probably did not work due to aggressive nature of the cancer and is rarely seen. Please do not worry.