Since there have been no clinical trials on reduction of radiation, and we know that radiation is the thing that HPV+ cancers respond the best to, messing with the amount of it might be problematic. There is about a 30% survival advantage in HPV+ disease. Does that mean that you could reduce the treatments by 30%? Hardly. Nothing would be worse that to go through all this and find a year out from treatment it was back. Incomplete resolution of the disease is something that could be a result of lesser rads. No one knows. Asking for a reduction in treatment because of costs or statistics taken years after treatment will not get the doctors to agree to do something that is outside accepted clinical protocols. They would be setting themselves up for a huge liability if things went south, so would the hospital itself.

Last edited by Brian Hill; 08-16-2013 08:18 AM.
Brian, stage 4 oral cancer survivor. OCF Founder and Director. The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.