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Axel Walther

Consultant Medical Oncologist

Dr Axel Walther is a medical oncologist and Director for Research in Oncology at University Hospitals Bristol. He is the co-lead for the Cancer Research Theme at the University of Bristol.

He completed his undergraduate degree at Cambridge University followed by Medical School at Oxford University. He trained at the Hammersmith, Middlesex and Royal Marsden Hospitals and obtained his PhD from University College London.

His research interests are genetic markers of cancer risk and outcome, and he has collaborated in the discovery of several low-penetrance colon cancer susceptibility loci, thought to make up part of the inherited risk of colon cancer. Dr Walther has presented these findings at global conferences, published in and reviewed articles for high-impact journals and contributed to textbooks on cancer.


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Organ transplant is almost never associated with cancer. The reason for this is that, in the main, you cannot be sure that a cancer is completely cured until many years after diagnosis. In addition, organ transplantation carries many hazards including deliberate immonosuppression of the patient, which is associated with cancer risk.

 

Deliberately induced immunosuppression is generally done to prevent the body from rejecting and organ transplant.

 

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Age and fitness have a crucial bearing on the treatment of cancer, which can be very intensive. With old and frail people we have to modify how aggressive we are with our treatment in order that people can cope. However, in younger and fitter patients experience has taught us about what is exactly the right level of activity for treatment in order to produce the best responses.  

 

Regular physical activity not only helps lower your risk of cancer, but it may also improve quality of life, mood, and other side effects of cancer and cancer treatment for people with cancer and cancer survivors. According to a 2011 report from the UK based Macmillan Cancer Support suggested that once cancer treatment has finished physical activity can reduce the impact of side effects, such as swelling, anxiety, depression, fatigue, impaired mobility and changes in weight. The research also suggested that exercise has an impact on preventing occurrence of a few specific cancers. For example, women with breast cancer who exercise for 150 minutes a week at moderate intensity have more than a 40 percent lower risk of dying and recurrence of the disease compared with women who are active for less than one hour a week.   

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Increasingly evidence suggests that lifestyles affect the risk of getting cancer. Many cancers are associated with lifestyles. A 2011 World Bank Report stressed the importance of controlling of tobacco use, harmful alcohol use, unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity, which all contribute to the cause cancer. Dealing with these four causes could substantially the human and economic burden that cancer imposes. The greatest impact would be made by the further extension of anti-tobacco measures. Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York City has overseen aggressive and effective measures to help reduce smoking and the consumption of unhealthy food and drink and to promote exercise.

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