PM Lee Hsien Loong: diagnosed with prostate cancer

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has been diagnosed with prostate cancer but is expected to recover fully after surgery, his office said Sunday.

Lee “has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, and will undergo surgery to remove his prostate gland on Monday 16 February 2015,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.

The Straitstimes.com said Lee will be on medical leave for a week.

He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in January, after a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan showed suspicious lesions on his prostate.

A subsequent biopsy found cancer cells in one out of 38 samples taken.

Mr Lee had a previous bout with cancer in 1992, when he suffered from intermediate grade malignant lymphoma. He had received chemotherapy then and was cleared of cancer cells in April 1993.

On Sunday, the PMO said Mr Lee has taken his doctors’ advice to remove his prostate gland by undergoing a robot-assisted keyhole prostatectomy.

The procedure will be performed by Singapore General Hospital lead urologist Christopher Cheng, who was a pioneer in the use of robots in surgery.

Prostate cancer, which forms in the tissues of the prostate – a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder – is the third most common cancer among Singaporean men. It is usually treated through radiation therapy, hormone therapy, surgery and chemotherapy.

For more read: www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/more-singapore-stories/story/pm-lee-hsien-loong-diagnosed-prostate-cancer-undergo-sur#sthash.ze6vhVsv.dpuf