Justice Ginsburg Has Surgery for Pancreatic Cancer
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is expected to remain in the hospital for up to 10 days after undergoing surgery Thursday for pancreatic cancer.
National Public Radio says Ginsburg, 75, had the surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from her pancreas. She is being treated at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. The cancer was discovered during a routine checkup.
The illness was apparently diagnosed at an early stage, the Associated Press reports.
Ginsburg has told friends she intends to be back on the job when the court reconvenes in three weeks, according to the NPR story.
The Wall Street Journal’s Washington Wire Blog published a U.S. Supreme Court statement announcing the surgery. It read in part: “Justice Ginsburg had no symptoms prior to the incidental discovery of the lesion during a routine annual check-up in late January at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. A Computerized Axial Tomography (CAT) Scan revealed a small tumor, approximately 1 centimeter across, in the center of the pancreas.”
Only 10 percent to 30 percent or patients with early stage pancreatic cancer survive for five years, according to medical literature cited by NPR. Marc Ambinder writes at the Atlantic’s Washington that surgeons tend to operate on the pancreas when the cancer hasn’t spread, so Ginsburg may have a better than average prognosis.
Ginsburg had surgery for colon cancer in September 1999 and later received radiation and chemotherapy as a precaution, she told the Los Angeles Times in a 2000 article. She never missed a single day on the bench during the treatment, according to AP.
Ginsburg’s surgeon, Dr. Murray Brennan, is a renowned expert in the treatment of cancers of the pancreas and other soft tissues, AP says.
Scientific American published an article on pancreatic cancer last year.
Additional coverage:
ABC News: “Ginsburg’s Cancer May Have Been Caught Early Enough”
Los Angeles Times: “Ginsburg has surgery for early-stage pancreatic cancer”
Updated at 6:45 p.m. to include links to additional coverage.
