Here are details of some world leaders who have had cancer while in office.
* VENEZUELA'S CHAVEZ:
- The 57-year-old socialist president declared himself free of cancer in October, four months after surgery to remove a malignant tumor from his pelvis.
He is due to return to Cuba for a new operation to remove a small lesion in the same place where the tumor was removed. Doctors have not disclosed the type of cancer he suffered from.
* PARAGUAY'S FERNANDO LUGO:
- Lugo was diagnosed in August 2010 with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer that originates in the lymphatic system, the disease-fighting network throughout the body. The president underwent four months of chemotherapy and the cancer is in remission.
* BRAZIL'S LUIZ INACIO LULA DA SILVA:
- Brazil's popular former president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, 66, was hospitalized this month for exhaustion resulting from chemotherapy, complicating his swift recovery from throat cancer and casting doubts on when he might return to political life.
Lula led the country between 2003 and 2010, a period of robust economic growth in which more than 20 million Brazilians were lifted out of poverty and joined the middle class.
* BARBADOS' DAVID THOMPSON:
- Thompson was diagnosed in Sept 2010 with pancreatic cancer, an often fatal illness. The prime minister received medical treatment in the United States but died in October 2010. He was 48.
* CZECH REPUBLIC'S VACLAV HAVEL:
- Vaclav Havel, a heavy smoker, had surgery in 1996 to remove part of his cancerous right lung. He was re-elected president two years later and stepped down in 2003 at the conclusion of his term. Havel died last December.
* FRANCE'S FRANCOIS MITTERRAND:
- Mitterrand was diagnosed with cancer not long after being elected president in 1981. He did not reveal the information until after an operation in 1992. In 1994 Mitterrand underwent a second prostate operation followed by chemotherapy. He said he would resign if the pain became overwhelming.
Although forced to reduce his activities from September 1992 and very weak in his last nine months in office, Mitterrand remained in full possession of his mental faculties. He completed two seven-year terms in office to become France's longest-serving president.
* UNITED STATES' RONALD REAGAN:
- In 1985, Reagan underwent surgery to remove cancerous polyps from his colon. This caused the first-ever invocation of the acting president clause of the U.S. Constitution's 25th Amendment. The surgery lasted just under three hours and Reagan resumed the powers of the presidency later that day.
In August 1985, he underwent an operation to remove skin cancer cells from his nose. In October, more skin cancer cells that were detected on his nose were removed. Reagan completed two four-year terms in office in 1989 and died in 2004.
* IRAN'S SHAH MOHAMMAD REZA PAHLAVI:
- Rioting prompted the shah to leave Iran in January 1979. Gravely ill, he sought refuge abroad and later was treated for lymphatic cancer in the United States. The shah died in exile in Egypt in July 1980. Exiled cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned to Iran in triumph.
* FRANCE'S GEORGES POMPIDOU:
- In April 1974, Pompidou died in office of a rare form of cancer called Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia. His death was a shock to the public, who had been told the president was suffering from recurrent bouts of flu. Pompidou died in an era when talk of the president's health was taboo.
(Sources: Reuters/www.britannica.com) (Reporting by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit)
