Cancer technique unique in France

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Or is the is the unique location where it is available in France? It doesn’t say precisely what the technique is, but it would surprise me if something that had got beyond the experimental stage wasn’t available in other rich countries or in world class cancer centres like Sloan Kettering or Marsden.

Interesting to note that this gentleman chooses to use the Public Health Services instead of being treated privately. :hugs:

The article suggests a man who has been given mainstream modern treatment for a fairly common tumour, but one for which therapy needs to be precisely targeted to avoid damage to organs such as the heart and bronchial tree.

He’s elated to think that his life has been saved, and perhaps is not fully au fait that there has always to be a guarded prognosis for five-year survival, which is a standard in cancer-treatment. No-one ever promises or announces a cure for any kind of cancer, only a predicted survival rate for a defined five year period.

His belief in the power of self-belief as central to the defeat of cancer is misplaced. It’s valuable to sustain a realistic optimism about outcomes, but it’s generally considered unwise in medical circles therapeutically to couch cancer treatment in terms of a battle against an enemy, and to suggest that courage and determination to survive is an antidote to death.

Mental state plays a part in treatment, but to suggest that people die because they lacked the will to fight is a dangerous myth, and should be discouraged, because it raises expectations in sufferers and their carers that will often not be fulfilled.

Some cancers are always rapid downhill trajectories for which any kind of treatment only offers to delay briefly the headlong decline to the grave.

NB Public hospitals are almost always better than private one for cancer treatment, because private hospitals don’t like treating people who may die, linger on after treatment, or suffer peri-operative complications. Very few pay for much aftercare.

Insurance companies like to pay the cost of uncomplicated surgery and rapid recovery. Death is bad publicity and patients like to be told when booking that "our survival stats are 99%“. Patients who develop complications in private hospitals are usually shunted PDQ to the public sector for them to pick up the pieces.

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That is indeed very true Peter.
Of course it is not possible to just think oneself well, but the degree of fight and determination, and often sheer bloody mindedness, does affect the degree of adverse side effects that the patient is willing to tolerate during treatment.
The more the patient is determined to carry on regardless as best they can, then the less they are likely to complain about side effects, and thus the treatments given can be stronger and more effective. The patient’s determination factor is also highly relevant to them following instructions in relation to exercise, diet, and quarantine rules, and these things are also highly relevant to the effectiveness of treatment.

Patient determination won’t of itself bring about remission, but it certainly helps to make the available treatments a lot more effective, and it’s very good for the patient’s mental health, and for that of their loved ones as well.

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I must confess, Robert, that my thoughts mirror yours and I cannot see where M Tapie has suggested anything more than that
 :upside_down_face:

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I’m guessing it might have something to do with this:

Une premiĂšre en France Ă  l’IPC: les premiers patient ont bĂ©nĂ©ficiĂ© du MRIdianÂź, un Ă©quipĂ©ment rĂ©volutionnaire de radiothĂ©rapie

image

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I can see both sides,that a strong positive attitude will assist in reactions to treatment and the ability to cope with a lot of the issues etc but I think that there can be a problem in that there are some terminal conditions that PMA just will not help with,and the worry is will the sufferer think “Am I not fighting enough “”What must my family think of me etc”

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Looks likely doesn’t it. An american product from Cleveland Ohio.

Always a difficult situation and not only for those with Cancer
 so many folk worry about “letting down” family, friends, whoever and sometimes this has tragic consequences. :pensive::pensive:

Is it now available in UK ?? or is it still very restricted
 :thinking:

LINACs with integrated CT scanners for IGRT have been available in many centres for some time - this is an evolution of the general idea as far as I can see.

Not sure how good the MRI images will be for the oesophagus/stomach though - it’s not an site where MRI is typically used, it moves too much (MRI images take time to acquire so, rather like a Victorian photo any movement degrades the picture).

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I was not aware of this as l underwent surgery to remove the tumour and subsequent months of radiotherapy in Oldchurch hospital in Essex. The first specialist who gave me the result of the histology told me l had a few months which made me extraordinarily angry - l was 39 at the time with a young family, they were devastated. I wasn’t prepared to accept this and demanded a 2nd opinion which resulted in another diagnosis - still cancer and a secondary tumour but one that was described as ‘treatable’ and radiotherapy began immediately. From that time on l only ever had positive and encouraging conversations.

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My assertion about survival rates should have read ‘a predicted survival rate within a defined five year period’. Not all surgeons will volunteer a prognosis, but will do so if asked, always with the qualification that it is provisional and only a tentative estimate based on statistical analysis of similar cases, and personal experience.

Prognostications/predictions about survival can only ever be (well) educated clinical guesswork. I’m very sorry your own life and that of your family was so devastated, Dan, and very, very pleased to know you have survived to tell your harrowing story.

I think with the advances in diagnostic techniques ie scanners etc and improvements in therapies, in current times ,specialist doctors can be a little less guarded in their prognosis although nothing is 100%

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Since M Tapie was keen to let fellow French sufferers know that the Treatment is available in France (if only in Marseille), I do not think it can be the treatment in your link.

Although he does say that it is due to the collection of “excellent brains” etc :kissing_smiling_eyes: in the Marseille hospital that he could be treated at all. :thinking::upside_down_face:

The “treatment” is the same - just the way of aiming/controlling it differs, but it was the only thing that seemed to fit his very vague description and was uniquely available in Marseilles. I considered it might be proton beam treatment but a) that isn’t really applicable to adult solid tumours and b) the unit is in Nice, not Marseilles.

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Paul


are we talking about the same article

M Tapie and the Newspaper talk about l’institut Paoli-Calmettes de Marseille


not that it matters, except that M Tapie was praising Marseille for being so forward-thinking and generally marvellous :hugs: and Nice is not very far away


Well, according to the article M. Tapie received treatment (or an approach to treatment) for his cancer which is only available in one centre In France and that self-same centre has just installed the only LINAC with combined MRI in France so


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Well M.Tapie has a close association with Marseille, so may well feel like lauding the treatment he’s had. Doesn’t hurt to praise your doctors publicly does it! He’s also not known for being 100% accurate, or the journalist may not have done enough fact checking - that’s not unknown either :grinning:

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