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The Princess of Wales announced in a video yesterday that she has been diagnosed with cancer following abdominal surgery earlier this year. "It has been two very difficult months for our whole family, but I have had a fantastic team of doctors who have taken great care of me, for whom I am very grateful," said Kate Middleton in her message. “In January, I had abdominal surgery and at the time the mass removed was thought to be non-cancerous. The operation was successful. However, tests after the operation revealed that the cancer was present. Therefore my medical team advised me that I should undergo preventive chemotherapy and I am now in the first stages of this treatment,” she continued.
Millions of people from every corner of the world have seen the video of the princess, as many eyes have asked what preventive chemotherapy is and how it works.
"Preventative chemotherapy is used after the initial cancer is removed, to try to reduce the risk of it coming back," says Marleen Meyers, MD, a medical oncologist and director of the cancer survivorship program at New York University Langone Perlmutter Cancer Center.
"We often give this type of treatment to try to eradicate microscopic cells that can't be seen on scans but can grow if left untreated. Despite curing the cancer, there may be a high risk of recurrence, so preventive chemotherapy appears to be used. This can be done in breast, ovarian, colon cancer, etc."
Otherwise, this is also known as an adjuvant chemotherapy and it is scientifically proven that its combination with surgery improves the chances of life expectancy in full health and without the possibility of the disease returning.
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