Can Michael Douglas beat throat cancer?

Actor Michael Douglas is remaining very positive despite being diagnosed with throat cancer.

Throat cancer is one of the more serious forms of the disease, but Douglas, who has a stage four cancer says that his doctors believe he has up to an 80 percent chance of survival.

“He is being treated at Manhattan’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center,” the actor’s press representative Allen Burry told ABCNews.com. “The tumor is at the base of his tongue and his doctor’s prognosis is for a full recovery.”

Douglas appeared on David Letterman’s “Late Show” last night and says that he has just finished his first week of chemo.

Douglas will have 8 weeks of outpatient treatment involving both radiation therapy and chemo.

“Together, it has proven to give a good chance for a cure for the disease,” said Dr. Kevin Cullen, director of the University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center. “But it is important to know if it is HPV-related, because those are the cancers that respond well to chemotherapy and radiation and have an excellent prognosis. The ones associated with smoking and drinking respond well, but not as well.”

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