Ginsburg Released From Hospital After Procedure Shows Cancer Has Not Spread

Main Category: Pancreatic Cancer
Article Date: 18 Feb 2009 - 6:00 PDT

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Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was released from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Friday after the removal of her spleen and a small, Stage 1 tumor in her pancreas, according to a court spokesperson, the Washington Post reports. A routine exam in January revealed a small lesion in Ginsburg's pancreas, which turned out to be a benign tumor. During surgery on Feb. 5 to remove the small tumor, physicians found a previously undetected small malignant tumor in the earliest stage of cancer. Physicians said that the cancer had not spread beyond the pancreas. Patrick Jackson, chief of gastrointestinal surgery at Georgetown University Hospital, said the latest information on her case is "as good news as she could possibly get." The best survival rates among patients with pancreatic cancer occur when the cancers are detected in the earliest stages, with a 25% to 35% chance of surviving for five years, according to Jackson. Ginsburg has said she plans to return to the court in time for three days of oral arguments scheduled to begin Feb. 23.

According to the Post, the news of Ginsburg's illness "resurrected debate that began during the presidential campaign about the type of jurists President Obama would choose" for Supreme Court nominations. According to the Post, women's rights advocates have pushed for Obama's administration to appoint more female judges to the nation's courts, particularly after the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, which left Ginsburg as the only female justice on the Supreme Court. Ginsburg is considered "a reliable liberal voice" among the court's four liberals, four conservatives and one middle-ground justice, the Post reports (Johnson, Washington Post, 2/4).

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