Yuvi cancer has 95% chance of cure

YUVRAJ Singh does not have lung cancer but a malignant tumour between his lungs that commonly occurs in the testes among young men. Cycling legend Lance Armstrong was diagnosed with a more serious form of this testicular tumour in 1996.

Doctors who diagnosed him in mid-January this year at Max Hospital in Delhi said here today that this form of tumour, seminoma, commonly occurs in germ cells found in reproductive organs of men and women. In Yuvraj's case, it is located in the "superior mediastinal region", or the upper area between his lungs, just above the heart.

On Wednesday, Yuvraj will begin the third of his nine weeks (three cycles) of chemotherapy, and has been reading Lance Armstrong's biography, going for long walks and sometimes jogging.

Dr Nitesh Rohatgi, a senior medical oncologist at Max Hospital who accompanied Yuvraj to the US when he started his chemotherapy sessions earlier this month, said: "It is a malignant tumour called extragonadal seminoma which is very rare. It is not lung cancer, nor has the tumour spread to the lungs."

Incidence of this tumour outside the testicles is extremely rare and reportedly "forms less than 1 per cent of cancers on the whole". Dr Anupama Hooda, director of the Oncology Department, said there was a 95 per cent chance of cure with therapy, and chances of recurrence were minimal.

While Yuvraj's father, former Test cricketer Yograj Singh, today lamented that his son had ignored his advice to seek treatment earlier, doctors said "he came to us at the right time".

About the cricketer's recovery, Dr Rohatgi said: "Yuvraj Singh the person will be cured of this cancer, and most likely Yuvraj Singh the cricketer will return with the same fervour that he had when he left."

According to the doctors, the US team was chosen "because of their vast experience with sportsmen", which has "seen athletes return to the field". Yuvraj's manager Nishant Arora said all "financial and mental support" was being provided by BCCI.

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