The Princess of Wales announced in a video yesterday she has cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy. Photo / Kensington Palace
The Princess of Wales announced in a video yesterday she has cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy. Photo / Kensington Palace
The discovery of her cancer after surgery could suggest the Princess of Wales’ tumour was small, a Kiwi cancer doctor says.
The future Queen announced in a personal video message yesterday that she has been diagnosed with cancer - which followed major abdominal surgery in January - and is undergoing preventive chemotherapy.
“But I am going to be ok,” the mum-of-three said in the moving update to the world on her health, which has been the subject of ongoing rumour and, at times, wild unfounded conspiracy theories.
“I’m sure that everything that can be done is being done for her, and they’ve been clear this is preventive treatment”, said Dr Kate Gregory, co-medical director of Cancer Society New Zealand.
Survival rates had increased hugely across all cancers in the past 50 years, some more than others, but it was hard to be more specific about the princess’ prognosis without knowing what type of cancer she has.
“The fact the tumour was picked up after surgery … we’d call that an incidental finding … would suggest that it was small. It was low volume, because it was obviously not what they were expecting, from the information we have.
“So she’s probably in a good situation.”
After an operation, a pathologist checks the surgical specimen, which would’ve been when the princess’ cancer was found.
“It does happen [cancer discovered after surgery]. The same thing happens with scans ... sometimes they have scans to look for fractures after an accident and a tumour is found.”
Preventive chemotherapy was known in the medical profession as adjuvant chemotherapy, Gregory said.
“It just means ‘after surgery’. It’s used in lots of cancers … lots of women who have breast cancer have chemotherapy after [surgery], and patients who have bowel cancer, those are two examples.
“It’s used because although the surgeon has removed the cancer and there’s a good margin of normal tissue around the cancer, we can’t be sure that some cells haven’t had a chance to break away and be in the general circulation. So, it’s like a mop-up.”
Kate and husband Prince William - who is first in line to the British throne - are parents to Princess Charlotte, 8, Prince Louis, 5, and Prince George, 10. The family are pictured during a 2021 holiday in Jordan, where the now Princess of Wales lived for two years as a child. Photo / Twitter
Clinical trials over many years had shown preventive chemotherapy improved patients’ chances of staying cancer-free, said Gregory, a medical oncologist at Nelson Hospital.
“It’s very common. Well over half the people having chemotherapy would be having it for that particular indication.”
Unfortunately, medical science hadn’t advanced to the point where tests could detect every cancer cell that may still be in the body after a tumour or tumours are removed.
“So we do treat lots of people after surgery, and possibly all of them don’t need it. But we haven’t got tests that are clever enough to tell us who doesn’t need it.”
With the princess keeping her exact cancer diagnosis private, it was hard to know how long she’d be receiving chemotherapy, but standard treatment was six cycles at three-weekly intervals.
“So four-and-a-half to six months would be a fairly standard amount of chemotherapy in that preventive setting.”
Kate Middleton and Prince William kiss on the balcony at Buckingham Palace after their wedding in 2011. Photo / George Pimentel, WireImage
At age 42, the princess’ diagnosis was considered to be a case of “young onset” cancer, the incidence of which has been increasing, Gregory said.
“It’s been quite well documented in the press recently that cancers in under 50s - men and women - is on the increase, and there’s various theories on why that might be … dietary, environmental … sleep deprivation.
“It doesn’t matter how privileged or wealthy you are, you can still get cancer.”
Both royals had been brave to speak publicly about their health battles, with high-profile medical diagnoses in the past shown to have prompted others to get health concerns checked.
“[That’s] the important message - if people do have things they’re concerned about, go to the doctor and get checked out.”
Cherie Howie is an Auckland-based reporter who joined the Herald in 2011. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years and specialises in general news and features.
