King Charles' decision to pause cancer treatment should be taken with 'caution' say doctors
Next week King Charles and Queen Camilla are set to embark on a royal tour of Australia and Samoa, with the monarch pausing his cancer treatment during their travels.
The King will continue with his ongoing treatment right up until he flies but his doctors are happy for it to be briefly stopped while he is away on his high-profile trip, the Daily Mail reports.
Curious as to how pausing his treatment could impact the royal's health, HELLO! spoke to NHS GP Dr. Raj Arora for her take on the matter.
Is pausing cancer treatment safe?
"Pausing cancer treatment is something that should be considered with caution," says Dr. Raj Arora. "It has to be under the guidance of a specialist, such as your oncologist."
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The King's doctor's decision to permit him to pause treatment could be a good sign that he is responding well to treatment, as Dr. Raj notes that if cancer is more aggressive, it's less likely pausing treatment would be okayed.
"Several things should be taken into consideration when deciding whether you should pause treatment, including looking at the stage of cancer, how urgent your treatment is, and how aggressive the cancer is. If it’s more aggressive, delaying treatment may not be advisable," she explains.
"The doctors will look at the patient’s overall health to decide whether it’s safe to pause treatment, and how long for," she continues.
King Charles and Queen Camilla are only set to be away for eight days, which could be another decision factor in the approval to pause his treatment, as Dr. Raj cautions: "The longer you have the break from treatment, the more the cancer may progress."
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King Charles' health
Both the King and Queen have kept his cancer treatment fairly private, rarely speaking about it other than to confirm he is doing well.
King Charles did refer to how he was coping with side effects in May, though. During a visit to Wiltshire, which saw the monarch talk to army veteran Aaron Mapplebeck, the veteran told King Charles that he underwent chemotherapy last year for testicular cancer and lost his sense of taste, to which the King replied the same had happened to him, according to The Metro.
There are several cancer treatments that can impact someone's taste, including chemotherapy, targeted cancer drugs, immunotherapy and anti-sickness medicines.
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It has never been shared which treatments the 75-year-old is undergoing, but he is not alone in his loss of taste. Around 75 per cent of people who have chemotherapy experience a change in taste.
Cancer Research explains that chemotherapy drugs cause taste changes because they stay in the spit (saliva) for a few days after treatment. The presence of the drug in the saliva directly affects the cells in the mouth responsible for taste.
They add that some chemotherapy drugs also cause reduced spit flow in the mouth, which also affects taste.
Here's hoping the King and Queen enjoy their tour, and the King feels ready to continue his treatment on his return.
