MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Doctors impressed with Lula da Silva’s response to chemotherapy

The former president will now be exposed to radiation therapy

Doctors in charge of throat cancer treatment for former Brazilian President Lula da Silva called his response to chemotherapy “impressive” and said the tumour in his larynx had shrunk by 75% in size.

The popular Lula da Silva underwent his third and final round of chemotherapy on Monday, which will be followed by radiation therapy in the coming months, finishing in February.

Doctors on the team treating the former president at the Hospital Sirio-Libanes said they were “impressed.”

”It was an extraordinary reduction (75%) that surprised the medical team,” said oncologist Artur Katz, adding that a 30 to 40% shrinkage would have been a positive response to treatment.

The team of physicians said that Lula da Silva would be able to return to political life by March next year if he continued to respond well to the treatment.

He would also not likely lose any capacity in one of his defining traits as a public speaker - his burly and explosive voice - as doctor's ruled out surgery in light of the shrinkage of the tumour.

Lula's diagnosis in late October shocked Brazilians and raised debate about political life without the charismatic former union boss, who remains an influential force in Latin America's largest economy.