- Title: Colombia's president says he is tumor-free, will have radiotherapy
- Date: 21st November 2016
- Summary: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA (NOVEMBER 21, 2016) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** EXTERIOR OF SANTA FE CLINIC THAT TREATED COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT JUAN MANUEL SANTOS FOR CANCEROUS TUMOR IN PROSTATE LOGO OF CLINIC SANTOS LEAVING CLINIC SANTOS ARRIVING TO NEWS CONFERENCE MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT JUAN MANUEL SANTOS SAYING: "The additional exam in the John Hopkins Hospital in the United States shows that I don't have any metastases nor do I have a tumor. What the doctors found is a minimal indication of what I had in the past and that is why they recommended a treatment with drugs and one session of radiation therapy that seeks to prevent the side effects of the medicine." SANTOS AND DOCTORS DURING NEWS CONFERENCE MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DIRECTOR OF THE SANTA FE CLINIC, DR. ADOLFO LLINAS, SAYING: "All the findings so far allow us to confirm that despite the abnormality, the biochemical recurrence of the cancer, the President is in good health and has absolutely no limitations in exercising his duties." SECURITY SANTOS AND DOCTORS LEAVING NEWS CONFERENCE
- Embargoed: 6th December 2016 17:12
- Keywords: Juan Manuel Santos prostate tumor
- Location: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA
- City: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA
- Country: Colombia
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA00159E1ZK3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos is healthy and has no cancerous tumors but will take medication and undergo one session of radiotherapy to eliminate any vestiges of a previous bout with the disease, he said on Monday (November 21).
Santos, 65, had successful surgery four years ago to remove a tumor in his prostate. He won election in 2010 and is halfway through his second term.
He flew to the United States last week for tests after doctors in Colombia detected elevated levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) during a routine check-up.
Men with prostate cancer often have elevated levels of PSA, a protein in the prostate gland.
"The additional exam in the John Hopkins Hospital in the United States shows that I don't have any metastases nor do I have a tumor. What the doctors found is a minimal indication of what I had in the past and that is why they recommended a treatment with drugs and one session of radiation therapy that seeks to prevent the side effects of the medicine," the president told reporters outside a clinic in Bogota.
"All the findings so far allow us to confirm that despite the abnormality, the biochemical recurrence of the cancer, the President is in good health and has absolutely no limitations in exercising his duties," said director of the Santa Fe clinic, Dr. Adolfo Llinas.
The cancer scare came at a busy time for the Colombian leader, who is trying to push through a revised deal with the Marxist FARC rebel group and get congressional approval for tax reforms. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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