Kate, the Princess of Wales, revealed Friday she had been diagnosed with cancer in a stunning announcement following weeks of speculation about her health and whereabouts.
The 42-year-old wife of Prince William, Britain’s future king, was hospitalized for almost two weeks after having major abdominal surgery in January. It was thought that her condition was noncancerous and that the surgery had been successful. Cancer was later found, however.
"This, of course, came as a huge shock, and William and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family. As you can imagine, this has taken time. It has taken me time to recover from major surgery in order to start my treatment," Kate said in the video message.
"But, most importantly, it has taken us time to explain everything to George, Charlotte and Louis in a way that is appropriate for them, and to reassure them that I am going to be OK," she added, referring to their three young children.
Following news of the cancer diagnosis, NBC Chicago talked to Dr. Yazan Numan, an oncologist with Northwestern Medicine, who touched on the likelihood of cancer being found during surgery, cancer treatment and a possible prognosis.
Surgery and ensuing cancer diagnosis
In the video announcement, Kate explained that she underwent "major abdominal surgery," but she didn't specifically reveal what the surgery was for. While it was believed that her condition wasn't cancerous, tests completed after the operation found "cancer had been present."
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Numan explained that getting diagnosed with cancer at an early age -- like 42 years old in Kate's case -- is not very common but does happen.
While it's unclear where cancer was discovered, similar findings have been made during gallbladder surgeries for cystitis and appendectomies, the doctor said.
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"...She did say it's a major abdominal surgery, so hard to speculate, but sometimes it could be due to some sort of a complication that was happening... Whether it's like an interrupted infection or a bleeding, because of some sort of a perforation in her bowels or her stomach," Numan said. "And once they went into operate, they did find the cancer and they had to deal with it after the fact."
While it’s rare to find cancer after surgery for a non-cancerous problem, it does happen in about 4% of such surgeries, said Dr. Yuman Fong, a surgeon at City of Hope cancer center in Southern California.
Numan agreed that finding cancer after a surgery isn't common, but it does still occur.
Preventative chemotherapy: what is it?
Kate shared few details of her treatment, but did reveal that she was undergoing preventative chemotherapy at the advice of her medical team.
Cancer patients might need surgery to remove cancer and then undergo additional treatment to ensure cancer is eliminated and doesn't return. The kind of treatment, known as adjuvant therapy, targets cancer cells that primary treatment didn’t destroy, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
While undergoing adjuvant therapy means you'll spend more time in treatment, it reduces the likelihood cancer will reemerge.
"As you're taking out the cancer, whether it's in the stomach or in the bowels or even the ovaries or the uterus... These cells starts to fall off and shut off and make small nests of the side of the surgery," Numan explained. "...The chemotherapy that happens after the surgery usually is designed to eliminate those small cells..."
It's unknown how long Kate will receive treatment, but it will likely be for months.
Acording to Numan, each cancer treatment is completely different and complex in terms of the type of chemotherapy and the combination of drugs being used.
"Don't want to generalize, but usually about six months is the course," he said, discussing a possible length of time for Kate's treatments. "But those are some cancers that we do only three months and there are some treatments that could extend up to a year."
However, some treatments, including those that are chemotherapy free, can last anywhere between 1 and 3 years.
Longterm outlook
Without knowing the type of cancer and specifics of the treatments, it's difficult to pinpoint Kate's prognosis.
However, her own words provided a clue.
"When we say it's a preventative, the success rate is expected to be in the range of 70% to 75%, meaning that if you take 100 people with the same cancer diagnosis at the same time of treatment after the surgery, we expect that 75% of the people that 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 that really should result in a good recovery and hopefully a normal life expectancy afterwards," he said.
