Rep. Castro’s rare cancer is manageable, experts say
The type of cancer that U.S. Rep Joaquin Castro underwent surgery for is rare but manageable with treatment, experts say.
Castro, 48, D-san Antonio, revealed Monday that he was diagnosed with gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumors. Such tumors can arise throughout the body, from cells that release hormones, but most commonly occur in the lungs or gastrointestinal tract. About 12,000 Americans are diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumors each year, and about 175,000 Americans are living with them, according to the Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation.
“No cancer is favorable, but they are generally thought of in many cases as more manageable, or more controllable, than other malignancies,” said Dr. Dr. Brooks Cash, chief of gastroenterology with Uthealth Houston and Memorial Hermann.
The tumors behave differently depending on the patient, with most growing slowly while some advance more quickly. Symptoms do not always occur, and some forms of the cancer do not need immediate intervention. Other more aggressive tumors require surgery or chemotherapy.
In Castro’s case, doctors detected what he described as mostly asymptomatic, slow-growing tumors last summer, after being taken to a hospital as a precaution following a car crash in Spain. It spread from his small intestine to his liver, and he underwent surgery Monday.
Castro, 48, will not receive post-surgery chemotherapy or radiation, earlier reports say. He continues to take monthly injections of Lanreotide, a safe treatment that slows tumor growth and usually does not cause side effects, experts say.
“In general, for someone who has recovered from this surgery, I would expect them to be able to go back to work and do just fine,” said Dr. Benjamin Musher, associate professor of medicine at the Dan L. Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Cen
ter at Baylor College of Medicine.
In a statement, Castro said his prognosis was good, and that he plans to spend the next several weeks recovering at home.
Castro sits on the House Intelligence Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and he is the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. The six-term Democratic lawmaker represents San Antonio's 20th Congressional District.
The cancer could spread in the future, Musher said, but more advanced treatment options are available, including hormone therapy and drugs that target specific traits in the tumor. Even when neuroendocrine tumors spread to other organs, patients frequently live years to decades with the disease, he said.
It is unclear what causes neuroendocrine tumors.
Some risk factors include a family history of multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1, also known as MEN 1 syndrome, which usually causes tumors in the pituitary gland, parathyroid gland or pancreas. A past diagnosis of atrophic gastritis, the chronic inflammation and thinning of the stomach lining, also can increase the chances of developing the disease.