Live updates: Princess Kate announces she is undergoing cancer treatment after hospital stay

Kate, the Princess of Wales, said Friday that she is in the early stages of “preventative chemotherapy” for cancer that was found following abdominal surgery in January.

Kate did not say what type of cancer doctors found, or how advanced it was. But cancer doctors say that in general, preventive or, more specifically, “adjuvant” chemotherapy is quite common following surgery that finds cancer. “It’s almost like an insurance policy,” said Dr. Andrea Cercek, a gastrointestinal oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

“The person has had surgery to remove all the cancer that is visible, and then we give chemotherapy to try to eliminate or get rid of any remaining cells that might be in the body but are too small to be seen.” In a taped video statement, the future queen of England said that at the time of her surgery, doctors did not believe her condition was cancerous. Tests done afterward, however, found that “cancer had been present,” she said.

“My medical team therefore advised that I should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy, and I’m now in the early stages of that treatment,” Kate said in the video. A Kensington Palace representative said the chemotherapy began in late February. Kate did not say what type of cancer doctors found, or how advanced it was. But cancer doctors say that in general, preventive or, more specifically, “adjuvant” chemotherapy is quite common following surgery that finds cancer.

“It’s almost like an insurance policy,” said Dr. Andrea Cercek, a gastrointestinal oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. “The person has had surgery to remove all the cancer that is visible, and then we give chemotherapy to try to eliminate or get rid of any remaining cells that might be in the body but are too small to be seen.”

“The surgery was successful, and that’s the most important thing,” said Dr. Eleonora Teplinsky, head of breast and gynecologic medical oncology at Valley Health System in New Jersey. The objective of adjuvant chemotherapy is to “reduce the chance for the cancer to come back in the future.” None of the physicians interviewed for this story has been involved in Kate’s medical care.

The type of adjuvant chemotherapy and the length of treatment depends on the type of cancer that’s been diagnosed. It’s given within a specific window of time proven to increase the chances that the cancer will never progress or return, said Dr. Ben Ho Park, who leads the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, Tennessee.