Patrick Swayze's docs order him to kick the butt

London, Mar 7 : Actor Patrick Swayze's doctors have ordered him to quit smoking as he battles pancreatic cancer.

The 'Dirty Dancing' star is known for smoking more than three packs of cigarettes a day, and had till now refused to kick the butt.

However, his doctors have cautioned him that if he wants to increase his chances of beating his cancer, he needs to stop lighting up, reports The Sun.

The news that the actor was suffering from the aggressive form of cancer was broken by US tabloid the National Enquirer.

But while the tabloid stated that the 55-year-old star had only weeks to live, his physician Dr George Fisher insisted that he was responding well to treatment.

"He appears to be responding well to treatment thus far," he said at the time.

"All of the reports stating the timeframe of his prognosis and his physical side effects are absolutely untrue. We are considerably more optimistic," he added.

Swayze, a keen pilot, is so fond of his cigarettes that in 2001 his plane crashed after the altitude controller became blocked with tar.

ANI