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Tribune News Service

After months of speculation about her recent health challenges, the Princess of Wales has revealed she has cancer.
The video announcement was short on specifics, prompting a new set of questions about her condition. She said she was initially told her “condition was non-cancerous”.
Learning otherwise after medical tests had been conducted “came as a huge shock”, the former Kate Middleton said.
She said she told the public the same thing she told her young children, princes George and Louis and Princess Charlotte: “I am well and getting stronger every day”.

Here’s a look at what is known about the princess’ condition:
What kind of cancer does Kate have?
She didn’t say.
In a video statement released on Friday, she explained that she had “major abdominal surgery” in January and didn’t suspect she had cancer at the time. Only later was it discovered that “cancer had been present”, she said.
With so little information to go on, it’s impossible to know exactly what the princess is up against, experts say.
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The fact that she had abdominal surgery would seem to rule out breast cancer, which is the most commonly diagnosed cancer for women in the United Kingdom, according to the World Cancer Research Fund.
Other than that, “it can be anything in the abdominal cavity – ovary, colon, appendix, stomach”, says Dr Beth Karlan, a gynaecologic oncologist at the UCLA (University of California Los Angeles) Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. “Any of the organs you think of in your tummy could have a malignancy.”
Among women in Britain, the most common types of cancers that affect the abdominal area are cancers of the bowel, uterus, ovaries, pancreas and kidney, according to the World Cancer Research Fund.

If she was initially told she didn’t have cancer, why did her diagnosis change?
Sometimes a cancer patient’s initial symptoms look like something else.
For instance, doctors may think a blockage in the ducts of a patient’s gall bladder is caused by a gallstone, but when they perform surgery to remove it, they find cancer, says Dr Syma Iqbal, a gastrointestinal oncologist at USC (University of Southern California) Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, in Los Angeles.
During surgery, pieces of tissue are removed and sent to a pathology lab, where they are sliced up and examined under a microscope. That close inspection reveals features that are too small to be seen in an operating room.

Discovering that a patient has cancer only after surgical treatment is “not common, but it’s not rare”, Karlan says.
What is Kate’s prognosis?
Experts say it’s probably good, based on the fact that she said she is undergoing “preventive chemotherapy”.

What is preventive chemotherapy?
It is chemotherapy treatment given after the primary treatment – in Kate’s case, surgery – that’s intended to reduce the risk of the cancer coming back.
Surgery can remove the bulk of a tumour, and if surgeons know they are operating on a malignancy, they will remove some surrounding tissue and lymph nodes to increase their odds of capturing breakaway cancer cells, Iqbal says.
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But if there’s a risk that some cells may remain, chemotherapy is a way to kill them off, thus reducing the risk of a recurrence.
“It can improve the chance of long-term cure and survival,” says Dr Edward Kim, physician-in-chief for City of Hope Orange County, a cancer treatment centre in Irvine, California.
In the United States, this kind of secondary treatment is called adjuvant chemotherapy. Radiation treatment and hormone therapy are other examples of adjuvant therapies for cancer patients.

“The fact that they think all of the cancer was removed and preventive or adjuvant chemotherapy was given gives us some cause for optimism,” says Dr Bill Dahut, chief scientific officer with the American Cancer Society.
“If you had found a lot more cancer than you expected, you’d have to go in for another operation. Or if the cancer had already spread, it would be treatment for metastatic or advanced cancer,” Dahut says.
“This is chemotherapy given for what’s presumed to be microscopic spread.”
Kate is 42. Isn’t that kind of young to get cancer?
Generally speaking, the risk of cancer increases with age. But the incidence of a variety of kinds of cancer has been rising in younger adults, experts say.
At 42, the princess is on the younger side of cancer patients. But the incidence of cancer has been rising among people under 50, Kim says.
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“We are absolutely seeing younger people being diagnosed with cancer,” he says.
In the United States, colorectal cancer is largely to blame. It is now the leading cause of cancer death in men under 50 and is second only to breast cancer among women in that age group, according to the most recent annual report from the American Cancer Society. Both Dahut and Iqbal say the trend is probably similar in the UK.
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Wellness

Kate Middleton’s cancer: what doctors learned from the Princess of Wales’ video announcement

The Princess of Wales revealed she is being treated for cancer in a video released on March 22. Doctors explain what they learned about her condition from what she said. Photo: BBC Studios via AP

Kate Middleton said her condition was only revealed to be cancerous after surgery, and that the diagnosis came as a “huge shock”. Photo: Shutterstock

Dr Beth Karlan, a gynaecologic oncologist at the UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. Photo: UCLA

Dr Syma Iqbal is a gastrointestinal oncologist at USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. Photo: USC

In the princess’ case, chemotherapy is being used to kill off any cancer cells that remain following surgery, to reduce the risk of a recurrence. Photo: Shutterstock

Dr Edward Kim is physician-in-chief for City of Hope Orange County in Irvine, California. Photo: City of Hope

How to deal with a cancer diagnosis: focus on treatment options, stay positive, doctor says; survivor advises asking questions and letting emotions out

Chang Hsiu-yun, a Pilates instructor at the Hong Kong Cancer Fund, at one of the fund’s support centres in Kwai Chung. The cancer survivor and a doctor give their advice on how to deal with a cancer diagnosis. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Chang exercises at a Hong Kong Cancer Fund support centre, in Kwai Chung. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Dr Ho Lap-yin is a urologist and a medical adviser for the Hong Kong Cancer Fund. Photo: Dr Ho Lap-yin

What do you value most in life? For Indian spiritual leader, it is time. Here’s why we should all spend it wisely

Didi’s life has been shaped by spirituality. Photo: courtesy of Sadhu Vaswani Mission

Time is valuable, says Indian spiritual leader Didi Krishna Kumari, who outlines three principles to shape a healthy mind and body. Photo: courtesy of Sadhu Vaswani Mission

Kumari says that what we do with time goes a long way to shaping a healthy mind and body. Photo: courtesy of Sadhu Vaswani Mission

Helping people shift from chaos to consistency – and find happiness – lies at the core of Kumari’s talks. Photo: courtesy of Sadhu Vaswani Mission

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Kumari’s life has been shaped by spirituality. Photo: courtesy of Sadhu Vaswani Mission

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Can adopting practices such as exercising and quitting drinking help lower your risk of getting cancer? And if so, by how much? New research has some answers. Photo: Shutterstock

Dr Eugene Kwan, in Hong Kong, says studies have demonstrated the substantial impact of regular exercise in preventing several types of cancer. Photo: Dr Eugene Kwan

Maintain a weight as low as possible within the healthy range throughout your life to lower cancer risk. Photo: Shutterstock

Dr Anna Herby is a dietitian and nutrition education specialist at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in the United States

You may want to give the snack food aisle a miss, to limit consumption of fast foods and processed foods high in fat, starches, or sugars. Photo: Shutterstock

To lower cancer risk, choose water over alcoholic or sugar-sweetened beverages. Photo: Shutterstock

Whole grains, vegetables, fruit, and beans dominate a whole-food, plant-based diet, which can be powerful for cancer-risk reduction. Photo: Shutterstock

Lifestyle

Health & Wellness

Health

We don’t know what type of cancer the Princess of Wales has, but it is not unusual for it to be diagnosed after surgery, as in this case, a cancer doctor says
The fact her doctors think all of the cancer was removed and she is having preventive chemotherapy gives cause for optimism, a cancer scientist says


Doctors explain what they can tell about the Princess of Wales’ cancer from her video statement, and why there is cause for optimism even though we don’t know what type of cancer her doctors found.
