Northwestern Medicine doctor provides insight on findings, treatment and prognosis – NBC Chicago

Kate, Princess of Wales, revealed on Friday that she had been diagnosed with cancer in a stunning announcement after weeks of speculation about her health and fate.

The 42-year-old wife of Prince William, the future King of England, was hospitalized for nearly two weeks after undergoing major abdominal surgery in January. It was believed that his condition was not cancerous and that the operation was successful. However, cancer was later discovered.

“Of course it was a huge shock, and William and I have done everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family. As you can imagine, this took a while. It took me a while to recover from major surgery and be able to start my treatment,” Kate said in the video message.

“But most importantly, it took us time to explain everything to George, Charlotte and Louis in a way that worked for them and to reassure them that everything will be okay,” she added, referring to their three young ones. children.

Following the news of the cancer diagnosis, NBC Chicago spoke with Dr. Yazan Numan, an oncologist at Northwestern Medicine, who discussed the likelihood of cancer detection during surgery, cancer treatment and a possible prognosis.

Surgery and subsequent cancer diagnosis

In the video announcement, Kate explained that she had undergone “major abdominal surgery,” but she did not specifically reveal the purpose of the surgery. Although his condition was thought not to be cancerous, tests performed after surgery revealed that “cancer was present.”

Numan explained that being diagnosed with cancer at an early age – like at 42 in Kate’s case – is not very common, but it happens.

Although it is unclear where the cancer was discovered, similar findings have been made during gallbladder surgeries for cystitis and appendectomy, the doctor said.

Kate, Princess of Wales, is undergoing chemotherapy following a cancer diagnosis, she said Friday in a stunning announcement that follows weeks of speculation about her health and whereabouts.

“…She said it was major abdominal surgery, so hard to speculate, but sometimes it could be due to some sort of complication happening…Whether it was like an interrupted infection or bleeding, because of some sort of perforation to the intestines or stomach,” Numan said. “And once they had surgery, they found out about the cancer and they had to deal with it after the fact.”

Although it is rare to discover cancer after surgery for a non-cancerous problem, it occurs in about 4 percent of these surgeries, said Dr. Yuman Fong, a surgeon at the City of Hope Cancer Center in California. South.

Numan agrees that discovering cancer after surgery is not common, but it still happens.

Preventive chemotherapy: what is it?

Kate shared few details about her treatment, but revealed she was undergoing preventative chemotherapy on the advice of her medical team.

Cancer patients may need surgery to remove the cancer and then undergo additional treatment to ensure that the cancer is removed and does not return. This type of treatment, known as adjuvant therapy, targets cancer cells that primary treatment did not destroy, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Although undergoing adjuvant therapy means you will spend more time in treatment, it reduces the risk of the cancer coming back.

“As you eliminate the cancer, whether it’s in the stomach or the intestines or even the ovaries or the uterus… These cells start to fall off and close up and form little nests on the surgery side,” Numan explained. “…Chemotherapy that takes place after surgery is usually designed to eliminate these small cells…”

It’s unclear how long Kate will receive the treatment, but it will likely last for months.

According to Numan, each cancer treatment is completely different and complex in terms of the type of chemotherapy and combination of drugs used.

“I don’t want to generalize, but typically treatment lasts about six months,” he said, discussing how long Kate’s treatments might last. “But these are cancers that we only treat for three months and there are treatments that can last up to a year.”

However, some treatments, including those without chemotherapy, can last between 1 and 3 years.

Long-term outlook

Without knowing the type of cancer and treatment details, it is difficult to determine Kate’s prognosis.

However, his own words provided a clue.

“When we say it’s a preventative treatment, the success rate should be between 70 and 75 percent, which means if you take 100 people with the same cancer diagnosis at the same time of treatment after surgery, we expect that 75% of people will never have to deal with this cancer again,” Numan said.

Given what the Princess of Wales has publicly revealed, Numan believes the odds are in her favor.

“…I think this should really result in a good recovery and hopefully a normal life expectancy afterward,” he said.