PM to have cancer op, full recovery is expected

SINGAPORE — Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and will undergo surgery to remove his prostate gland tomorrow (Feb 16), a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said today.

TODAY understands that the cancer is at an early stage and that abnormalities were detected during Mr Lee’s regular health check-up.

Data from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in the United States showed patients with a similar medical profile and treatment have a cancer-specific survival rate of 99 per cent at 15 years, said the PMO.

Mr Lee, 63, underwent a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of his prostate last month, which showed suspicious lesions, it added. A biopsy carried out on 38 samples taken from the prostate showed one of the samples contained cancer cells.

The surgery Mr Lee will undergo tomorrow, a robot-assisted keyhole prostatectomy, will be carried out by Professor Christopher Cheng, lead urologist at the Singapore General Hospital.

Mr Lee decided on the surgical treatment option on the advice of a panel of doctors led by Prof Cheng and is expected to recover fully, said the PMO. He will be on medical leave for one week after the surgery and will be covered by Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean during that period.

Writing on his Facebook page this evening, Mr Lee said he is all set for his operation and thanked people for sending their concern, good wishes and encouraging words through emails, text messages, and Facebook and Instagram comments.

He also posted a picture of himself smiling with a pulse oximeter — a device that tracks oxygen in the bloodstream — on his finger, taken after he underwent the biopsy last month.

Mr Lee quipped that his wife, Ho Ching, took the photo of “ET phoning home”, making reference to the 1982 movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

Mr Lee was diagnosed with intermediate grade malignant lymphoma, a form of cancer, in November 1992 when he was Deputy Prime Minister. He was sidelined for several months to undergo chemotherapy and his cancer is in remission.