Doctors say the diagnosis of Catherine’s cancer is a common scenario
While it is not known what type of cancer Princess Catherine has, oncologists say what she described in her public statement released Friday – discovering cancer during another procedure, in this case a “major abdominal surgery” – is all too common. .
“Unfortunately, a lot of the cancer we diagnose is unexpected,” says Dr. Elena Ratner, a gynecologic oncologist at Yale Cancer Center, who has diagnosed many patients with ovarian cancer, uterine cancer and cancer of the endometrium.
Without speculating about Catherine’s procedure, Dr. Ratner situations in which women require surgery for endometriosis, a condition in which tissue similar to the uterine lining is found elsewhere in the abdomen. Dr. Ratner often says the assumption is that the endometriosis has appeared on an ovary and caused a benign ovarian cyst. But one to two weeks later, when the supposedly benign tissue has been examined, pathologists report that they have found cancer.
In the statement, Princess Catherine said she is receiving “a course of preventive chemotherapy.”
That is also common. In medical settings, this is commonly referred to as adjuvant chemotherapy.
Dr. Eric Winer, director of the Yale Cancer Center, said that with adjuvant chemotherapy, “the hope is that this will prevent further problems” and prevent a recurrence of the cancer.
It also means that “you’ve removed everything” that was visible with surgery, said Dr. Michael Birrer, director of the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. “You can’t see the cancer,” he added, because microscopic cancer cells may remain. The chemotherapy is a way to attack microscopic diseases, he explained.
Other parts of Catherine’s statement also struck a chord with Dr. Ratner, especially her concern for her family.
“William and I have made every effort to process and manage this privately in the best interests of our young family,” the statement said.
And “it has taken us time to explain everything to George, Charlotte and Louis in a way that suits them, and to reassure them that I will be fine.”
These are feelings that Dr. Ratner regularly hears which she says reveal “how difficult it is for women to be diagnosed with cancer.”
“I see this day in and day out,” she said. “Women always say, ‘Will I be there for my children? What will happen to my children?’”
“They don’t say, ‘What will happen to me?'”