BRAZIL’S LULA DISCHARGED FROM HOSPITAL

Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva left hospital on Monday after a procedure to remove potentially pre-cancerous patches from his vocal cord, doctors said, adding that they had found no abnormal tissue mass in the process. Doctors at Sao Paulo’s Sirio Libanes Hospital, where the 77-year-old Lula was treated for throat cancer 11 years ago, said the procedure had removed small white patches called ‘leukoplakia’ from his vocal cords.

Leukoplakia, also called ‘smokers keratosis’, can be caused by repeated injury and irritation or exposure to smoking and alcohol.