Thaindian News

Buenos Aires, Jan 8 (IANS/EFE) Argentine President Cristina Fernandez left hospital Saturday and returned to her official residence in Buenos Aires with good news. Following her thyroid operation, doctors said she does not have cancer.

“The histopathological examination definitively shows the presence of nodules in both lobes of the president’s thyroid gland, but dismisses the presence of carcinogenic cells, modifying the original diagnosis,” said to the medical report read out by presidential spokesman Alfredo Scoccimarro.

The 58-year-old Fernandez was admitted Wednesday to the Austral Hospital to undergo a total removal of the thyroid gland because of cancerous cells detected in the right lobe of her thyroid.

Biopsies, however, found only a benign thyroid tumor. According to the medical report, it means that Fernandez will not require treatment with radioactive iodine as previously announced.

Fernandez boarded the presidential helicopter waiting for her on the hospital premises and returned to her residence near Buenos Aires, accompanied by her son Maximo and daughter Florencia.

Fernandez was operated by surgeon Pedro Saco, among the most highly regarded in the country, under the supervision of the presidential medical team.

A mistaken diagnosis in this kind of illness “is something that I won’t say is usual, but that can happen, it can happen in the best medical teams”, said Ernesto Puentes, a specialist in head and neck surgery.

The news was greeted with applause and cries of joy by hundreds of supporters camped outside the hospital.

A sea of flags, banners, photos of Fernandez and her husband, late president Nestor Kirchner, were seen.

One of the few people who had brief access to Fernandez at the hospital was Vice President Amado Boudou, acting head of government while the president was on medical leave.

The president’s office has not yet confirmed, in light of the new diagnosis, whether Fernandez will continue with leave of absence till Jan 24.

–IANS/EFE
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