Image Text:

TROUBLE: Argentine president diagnosed with thyroid cancer

ARGENTINA PRESIDENT Cristina Fernandez has thyroid cancer, but test results showed that it remains limited to a lobe in the right side of her neck and has not spread into her lymph nodes, her spokesman said.

Fernandez, 58, will undergo surgery on January 4 and then take 20 days of medical leave, during which Vice-president Amado Boudou will run the country.

Meanwhile, she will keep up her normal routine, spokesman Alfredo Scoccimarro suggested, noting that she will appear at several events on Wednesday as planned.

Scoccimarro said the cancer was discovered during a routine examination on December 22, and that Fernandez received the results from follow-up tests hours before the announcement.

This kind of thyroid cancer is highly survivable, with more than 95 per cent of patients living at least 10 years after detection, according to the United States National Institutes of Health.

The usual treatment is to surgically remove as much of the cancerous material as possible, and then follow up with radioactive iodide treatments, taken orally. This substance helps to destroy any remnants of the cancerous gland and provide for clearer images showing any additional cancer, the NIH said on its website.