Politics

Lt. Governor Diagnosed with Neuroendocrine Cancer

(KDKA) Lt. Governor Catherine Baker Knoll has been diagnosed with neuroendocrine cancer.

Even though it's rare -- affecting just one per hundred-thousand people -- Dr. Dulabh Monga has had several patients with it.

"One of my patients was actually found to have this cancer incidently..."

Typically, these slow growing tumors are found by accident on medical tests, even before symptoms start. But a small subset can be aggressive.

"They can sometimes present with severe abdominal pain, bowel obstruction, and they end up in the ER, and they're found to have the tumor," says Dr. Monga, a cancer specialist at Allegheny General Hospital.

The cancer starts in specialized nerve cells that make hormones. The tumors can occur in any part of the body, but often it's in the digestive system. Some symptoms come from the tumor secreting hormones.

"Flushing, diarrhea, they can sometimes drop their blood pressure, rarely they can have some shortness of breath," lists Dr. Monga. "We check hormone levels in the blood, and that's how we follow them. There are medications that can help alleviate these symptoms."

The diagnosis can be made with special blood and urine tests; X-rays, CT scans, MRIs, and other types of pictures; and biopsies.

"If you're able to completely remove the tumor, that's the best treatment option," says Dr. Monga. "Chemotherapy is used; unfortunately, the response rates are not very good, about 20 percent to 30percent response rates at best."

As for the prognosis for these types of cancers, Dr. Monga says it all depends on the type you have.

"People can live for 10 to 15 years without any problems; however, if you have an aggressive form...those patients will have a poorer prognosis, which can be two or three years, or less than that...."

Lt. Gov. Knoll was diagnosed during a routine medical exam earlier in the summer. Tests confirmed the cancer.

The Senate has been out of session, and she has been getting chemotherapy and radiation treatments since early July. She expects to be back at the podium on September 16th.

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