Could Cancer Put a Stop to Michael Douglas' Acting Career?

How will newly discovered throat cancer affect his performances?

What are the chances that Michael Douglas could lose his performing ability due to his newly discovered throat cancer? Let's hope he doesn't suffer the same fate as Roger Ebert.

—BelBh, via the Answer B!tch inbox

Throat cancer generally does not affect one's ability to throw steely-eyed glances into the middle distance, if that's what you're asking. Nor does it automatically impart the awful fate suffered by folks like Ebert, who lost his lower jaw in a bout with a different iteration of cancer. Still, Douglas fans may notice some differences in the actor's performances as he continues his treatment ...

We don't know all the details about Douglas's cancer. Here's what we do know: That he has it, and that he's undergoing chemotherapy and radiation. No mention of surgery, which is significant, but more on that in a second.

The treatment will go on for eight weeks, and medical experts are generally in agreement that Douglas's prognosis for survival looks decent.

Patients with similar conditions generally have seen about a 70 percent rate of survival, says Brad Thompson, president and CEO of Calgary-based Oncolytics Biotech Inc., which manufacturers cancer treatments. If surgery had been announced, that would generally mean that Douglas's cancer is more advanced or virulent.

It isn't likely that Douglas will lose his jaw or any bone at all, for that matter. Yes, Ebert did, but his type of cancer—thyroid, followed by cancer in his salivary gland and near his right jaw—appeared to be a "worst case scenario," according to Dr. Warren Line of the Disney Family Cancer Center at Providence Saint Joseph in Burbank.

Instead, for Douglas, Thompson tells me that "it's generally the soft tissue that could be damaged by the radiation." In that case, Douglas could lose his voice, or, perhaps just his distinct vocal character.

"It all depends on where the radiation is needed," Thompson explains to me. Radiation has gotten fairly specific, I'm told—you don't nuke a patient's whole upper body—so if the cancer is small, or in a remote part of Douglas's throat, you may not see any change at all.

However, Douglas is likely to develop problems swallowing—possibly permanently—because of the radiation treatment, Line tells me.

No matter what happens Thompson supposes—and I agree—"that he's getting the best quality care on the planet."