CBS News is reporting that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been hospitalized. The diagnosis is pancreatic cancer. This is a terrible diagnosis.
Any one have more information on this? Feel free to open thread.
Not finding anything on the Net or from other news services.
Update from NPR
Ginsburg's pancreatic cancer was discovered early, in the course of a routine annual screening, but medical literature says even in this circumstance, a patient's five-year survival chances range from 10 to 30 percent.
The five-year survival rate is 5 percent, with most patients living less than a year. Doctors say this poor survival rate is due in significant part to the fact that cancers of the pancreas are discovered late, when the cancer is very advanced.
Because Ginsburg previously underwent radiation treatment after her colon surgery, she likely will not be able to have radiation treatment a second time. Chemotherapy has not proved to be curative for pancreatic cancer.
The justice is known for her toughness, and she has told friends she intends to be back on the bench when the court reconvenes in three weeks. She has never missed a day of court because of any illness. But doctors say the surgery she underwent Thursday is a blow to the system that takes time to recover from and there are often complications.