Secretary of State Colin Powell underwent surgery Monday for the removal of a cancerous prostate, and his spokesman said Powell is doing well.
“I’m happy to report that he’s out of surgery, that everything went fine,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
“The doctors say he had a localized prostate cancer,” Boucher said. There were no complications during the two-hour surgery, Boucher said, and “a full recovery is expected.”
Boucher said the initial diagnosis was made several months ago, as was the choice to schedule surgery. But he offered few medical details, and Walter Reed did not release additional information.
There has been speculation on whether Powell, 66, will stay in his job if President Bush wins a second term. Boucher said the surgery “has no bearing whatsoever” on that question.
Powell probably will spend several days in the hospital, Boucher said, and then recuperate at home, where he’ll be on a reduced schedule. Dr. Kenneth Pienta, a urologic oncologist at the University of Michigan, said it can take about six weeks to recover fully from the surgery, but many patients return to work sooner.
Outside specialists said the available information suggests Powell had an early-stage cancer and has good prospects for long-term survival.
“They wouldn’t have performed surgery unless they truly believed the cancer was localized to the gland itself,” Pienta said.
The prostate is a walnut-sized gland, located below the bladder, that produces seminal fluid. Prostate surgery can result in temporary or permanent incontinence and impotence, specialists said, although efforts are made when possible to spare the nerves that control erections.
Dr. Durado Brooks, director of prostate cancer programs for the American Cancer Society, said surgery or radiation are primary treatment options for early-stage prostate cancer, with many patients choosing surgery because they want to be rid of the cancer quickly.
If Powell’s cancer already had spread to other parts of his body, specialists said, the medical team likely would have recommended hormonal therapy, a systemic approach that seeks to deprive cancer cells of the male hormones they need to grow.
Brooks said men who are treated for early-stage prostate cancer, whether by surgery or radiation, typically have 5- to 10-year survival rates of better than 80 percent.
Prostate cancer is second only to lung cancer as a cause of cancer death among men, according to the American Cancer Society.
