What we know about Princess Catherine's cancer diagnosis
Catherine, the Princess of Wales, has revealed that she is receiving a preventa‐ tive course of chemothera‐ py for an unspecified type of cancer.
In a video statement is‐ sued on Friday, Catherine said that when she under‐ went major abdominal surg‐ ery in January, "it was thought that my condition was non-cancerous" but that "tests after the operation found cancer had been present."
She said doctors recom‐ mended that she do a course of preventative chemothera‐ py and that she is now in the early stages of that treat‐ ment.
Here are some explana‐ tions of terms she used and what we know about her di‐ agnosis:
What kind of treatment is Catherine having?
In her video statement, Catherine said she is in the early stages of a course of "preventative chemothera‐ py."
Kensington Palace said no additional details about her treatment would be revealed publicly other than that she started it in late February.
The palace also said it would not say what type of cancer was found.
"We will not be sharing any further private medical information. The Princess has a right to medical privacy as we all do," the statement said.
WATCH | Kate's cancer announcement:
What's preventative chemotherapy?
After successful surgery, chemotherapy is often used to help kill any undetectable cancer cells and to prevent the cancer from coming back or spreading.
"The sort of chemothera‐ py and the time length of treatment depends on the type and stage of cancer as confirmed by examining the cancer removed at surgery," said Lawrence Young, profes‐ sor of molecular oncology at the University of Warwick in a release posted on the web‐ site of the U.K.-based Science Media Centre, which works with journalists to dissemi‐ nate scientific information.
In Canada, preventative chemotherapy is often called adjuvant therapy .
What type and stage of cancer does Catherine have?
Traditionally, types of can‐ cer are named after where they start in the body, ac‐ cording to the Canadian Can‐ cer Society.
This could include an or‐ gan such as the breasts for solid tumours or the blood for cancers like leukemia.
The stage of cancer takes into account where a cancer is located, its size, how far it has grown into nearby tissue and if it has spread to lymph nodes or other parts of the body.
None of this is public in Catherine's case.
In general, cure rates are higher when cancer is found at an early stage. That's why cancer specialists emphasize the importance of preventa‐ tive screening designed to detect cancers early or be‐ fore cancer symptoms are noticeable.
Are cancers common for people of Catherine's age?
The Princess of Wales is 42.
Cancer is a disease of ag‐ ing because the longer a cell has existed, the more oppor‐ tunities the genes in a divid‐ ing cell have to change or mutate.
More recently, re‐ searchers around the world have documented an in‐ crease in cancers in those under 50. These are consid‐ ered early-onset cancers.
A 2023 BMJ analysis sug‐ gested that the early onset of 29 different cancers had risen nearly 80 per cent glob‐ ally between 1990 and 2019. The number of early-onset cancer deaths increased by almost 28 per cent.
In the U.S., a study pub‐ lished in JAMA Network Open also concluded a wide range of cancers among American adults under 50 had in‐ creased between 2010 and 2019, particularly among women.
Why cancers seem to be on the rise in those under 50 is not known. Cancer re‐ searchers are exploring sev‐ eral ideas, including changes in diet, a more sedentary lifestyle and other environ‐ mental factors.
"All of these things have been studied to some extent, but there's no clear answer," said Christopher Booth, a medical oncologist at Kingston General Hospital in Kingston, Ont.
Booth said oncologists in Canada are also increasingly seeing cancer in younger adults as well.
"It remains a disease that's still highly treatable if caught at an appropriate time."
Ian Bookman, a gastroen‐ terologist in Toronto, said the research "doesn't mean every young person needs to run out and start getting cancer screening."
How extensive is Cather‐ ine's cancer?
Since we don't know what stage the cancer was that was found during Catherine's surgery, we can't say how ex‐ tensive it might be.
Cancer cells grow uncon‐ trollably and can spread, or metastasize, to other parts of the body.
Benign tumours spread.
Cancer cells act differently than healthy cells. Specifical‐ ly, they:
Don't die off like other cel‐ ls. Grow more quickly than other cells. Bypass the im‐ mune system's defences, which work to keep abnor‐ mal or invading cells in check. don't
Catherine did say in her video statement that she has told her three children that she is well and "getting stronger every day by focus‐ ing on the things that will help me heal in my mind, body and spirits."