"A patient once described it to me as brutal, and it's really stuck with me, because it's difficult to go through."It's the cancer treatment Prof Mererid Evans routinely prescribes to the people who come to her, hoping she will save their lives, and which she aims to improve with research she is leading.
"We talked about the treatment he'd be receiving and I think he felt it was an opportunity to highlight what it's like going through cancer treatment.", although it is two to three times more common in men, for whom it is the fourth most likely form. Prof Evans tried to carry on as normal in her interactions during their consultations, despite having a film crew present.
"The side effects are a dry mouth, lack of taste, ulcers that make swallowing very painful and difficult and sometimes requires feeding through a tube in the tummy as we saw in the documentary."It also causes fatigue which can take months to get over, she added, and the effects are compounded if a patient also has chemotherapy, which can cause nausea, vomiting and infections.
A programme of vaccination for girls against HPV to tackle cervical cancer, given at the age or 12 or 13, was introduced in 2008.Prof Evans was involved in two studies looking at the prevalence of HPV cancers in men which were used as evidence for the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation to subsequentlyin cervical cancer rates in girls who were first vaccinated at 12 or 13, and a 97% reduction in pre-cancerous cell changes that can lead to cervical cancer.
"In the meantime, we're going to see large numbers of people who have HPV-related cancers and we need to treat them."