In a heartening turn of events, action movie star Dolph Lundgren recently announced that he is “finally cancer free” after a gruelling battle with the disease.
The Rocky IV actor, known for his iconic role as Ivan Drago, shared this news from a hospital bed in Los Angeles, where he was undergoing a final procedure – an ablation – to help remove an apparently dead tumour.
This remarkable recovery comes after Lundgren was initially given a grim prognosis of just two to three years to live.
Lundgren’s cancer journey began in 2015 when doctors discovered a cancerous tumour in his kidney. For the first five years following his diagnosis, the actor’s condition appeared to be under control with regular scans. However, in 2020, things took a turn for the worse. Lundgren began experiencing acid reflux, prompting an MRI that revealed additional tumours in his abdomen. Doctors then found another tumour in his liver.
Despite the bleak outlook, Lundgren’s story took an unexpectedly positive turn. He sought a second opinion and began treatment with a new doctor who reevaluated his cancer and prescribed medications to shrink the tumours. This change in approach allowed Lundgren to continue working, shooting major films like Expendables 4 and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom while undergoing treatment.
The actor’s recent announcement of being cancer free raises an important question: how likely is it for someone with a terminal cancer diagnosis to be cleared of cancer altogether?
Atypical case
While Lundgren’s case is undoubtedly inspiring, such outcomes are not typical for most patients with advanced cancer – and the accuracy of predicting when terminally ill patients will die can vary considerably. One study found that clinicians tend to over-predict the number of people they think will die within a specified time period.
In fact, the study showed 54% of those predicted to die within a given time frame lived longer than expected. I’ve led research that shows how difficult it is for doctors to estimate how long patients have to live, even when those people are very sick.
The remarkable advances of new cancer drugs, and immunotherapies in particular, have led to many people living with their disease, when previously they would have died rapidly from it. Kidney cancer falls into this category as it’s often very responsive to these drugs.
We do, however, need to be vigilant as cancers can return even decades after people are given the all clear from doctors. While medical professionals strive to provide accurate prognoses, the unpredictable nature of cancer and individual responses to treatment can lead to outcomes that defy initial expectations – and the term “cancer free” can be misleading.
In many cases, it doesn’t mean that every cancer cell has been eliminated from the body but that there is no detectable cancer at the time of assessment. Some cancer cells may remain dormant or undetectable by current imaging technologies so, sometimes, as one of my research groups found, they can be detected using new advanced blood tests.
Changing landscape
Nevertheless, the possibility of misdiagnosis in terminal cancer cases is relatively low, given the advanced diagnostic tools available today. While this is a concern in cancer screening, it’s less likely in advanced cancer cases like Lundgren’s.
More likely, Lundgren’s remarkable recovery can be attributed to advancements in cancer treatment. In recent years, there have been significant strides in targeted therapies and immunotherapies that have dramatically improved outcomes for many cancer patients.
These treatments can be particularly effective for certain types of cancers, those with specific genetic mutations or changes within their cancers. I was part of research team studying next generation immunotherapies in colon cancer. The study found, for the first time, positive effects in heavily pre-treated patients with few treatment options remaining.
We’re now regularly seeing long-lasting remissions in patients treated with immunotherapy but, like all drugs, immunotherapy only works for certain types of cancer. As an oncologist, I use personalised medicine: treating the right person at the right time with the right drugs for the right cancer.
While Lundgren’s case is good news, it’s crucial to approach such stories with a balanced perspective. Not all patients with advanced cancer will experience similar outcomes, and previously effective treatments can stop working.
However, his story highlights the importance of seeking second opinions, exploring all available treatment options and maintaining hope, even in the face of dire prognoses.
For patients living with prolonged incurable cancer, the landscape is changing. Thanks to therapeutic advances, the period between a diagnosis of non-curable cancer and the end of life has rapidly increased for many patients.
Lundgren’s journey from a terminal diagnosis to being cancer free is testament to the progress being made in cancer treatment. While such dramatic turnarounds are not yet the norm, they offer hope and underscore the importance of ongoing research and development in cancer therapies.
As medical science continues to advance, we may see more stories like Lundgren’s, where patients defy the odds and reclaim their health from the grip of this formidable disease.
Justin Stebbing does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
