Buenos Aires: President of Argentina Cristina Fernandez has diagnosed with thyroid cancer, but test results showed that it remains limited to a lobe in the right side of her neck and has not spread into her lymph nodes, her spokesman said.
Fernandez, 58, will undergo surgery on Jan. 4 and then take 20 days of medical leave, during which Vice President Amado Boudou will run the country.
The cancer was discovered during a routine exam on December 22 and that Fernandez received the results from follow-up tests hours before the announcement.
This kind of thyroid cancer is highly survivable, with more than 95 percent of patients living at least 10 years after detection, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
Fernandez is only the latest South American leader to be diagnosed with cancer. Presidents Fernando Lugo of Paraguay, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Dilma Rousseff of Brazil all have undergone treatments recently.
