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Dr Gérald Kierzek (Medical Director of Doctissimo)
After Charles III, it is Kate Middleton’s turn to announce that she has been diagnosed with cancer. In a video published Friday at 6 p.m., she explains that after an abdominal operation, post-operative tests revealed cancer. She is undergoing preventive chemotherapy. When is this type of treatment used? Update with Dr Gérald Kierzek, medical director of Doctissimo.
Wearing a blue and white sailor top, she declares on camera: “In January I had a major abdominal operation in London. At the time, it was thought that my condition was not cancerous. However, tests carried out after the operation revealed the presence of cancer“.
Kate Middleton announces her cancer and undergoes “preventative chemotherapy”
Evoking a “huge shock“, she continues: “My medical team advised me to undergo preventative chemotherapy, and I am now in the early stages of this treatment“. Her tired look reflects the ordeals that she and her family are going through together. Not a word on the precise nature of the cancer that is eating away at her, nor on the progress of the disease.
The state of health of the princess was at the heart of all discussions since on January 17, Kensington Palace announced that Kate had undergone a major abdominal operation in a London clinic. Since then, the broadcast of a retouched image of the princess with her children had unleashed the British media.
More cancers among young women?
Aged 42, the princess is young but several statistics have confirmed that cancers are striking more and more young people. A recent American study reveals that those under 50 are less and less spared.
The increase in cancer cases is particularly notable among 30-39 year olds. And the number of cancers among young women increased by 4.4% during the study period, a trend driven by an increase in cases of breast and cervical cancer. Among men, on the contrary, the number of cases decreased by almost 5%.
When should we talk about preventive chemotherapy?
More than preventive chemotherapy, we speak of “adjuvant chemotherapy”. When a cancer is detected early and is “localized”, that is to say without metastases (tumors spread throughout the body), surgery allows the tumor to be removed.
To prevent cancer cells from migrating elsewhere or persisting at the initial site, chemotherapy is used which will destroy these cells. This treatment is not specific to this or that cancer, it is used for lung, breast, colon, ovarian cancers, etc. It is quite common except when the tumors are very small and surgery is sufficient.
Details from Dr. Gérald Kierzek, emergency physician and medical director of Doctissimo
The term “preventive chemotherapy” is not a medical or official National Health Service (NHS) term. Adjuvant chemotherapy is indicated in particular when tumor analyzes suggest that the risk of recurrence is significant. It is performed 3 to 6 weeks after surgery. The prognosis depends, among other things, on the type of cancer (gynecological, digestive, lymphoma, etc.) and its extension (stage of development and metastases in particular).
When can the Princess expect to be in remission?
Difficult to say given the unpredictability of the disease, but if at the end of the treatment no recurrence occurs in the months/years that follow, the princess can be optimistic. Full of hope in the face of cancer, she also expects to fight a fight for which she says she needs “time, space and privacy“, while assuring that she was going “GOOD“.
After words for these three children, she declares “I get stronger every day by focusing on the things that will help me heal“. She concludes by thinking of all patients affected by cancer, “please don’t lose faith or hope, you are not alone“.