What is preventive chemotherapy? An expert’s explanations about Kate Middleton’s cancer

Alexandra Pupo, surgeon and specialist in gastric and esophageal pathologies, explains that the fact that Kate Middleton undergoing chemotherapy does not mean that she cannot be cured. It also describes the standard procedure for this type of situation.

The surgeon clarifies that, “usually, preventive chemotherapy is not used in gastric cancer” and continues:

“Gastric cancer is diagnosed and staged, that is, there are several stages of gastric cancer.”

Note that staging is done “according to the invasion of the stomach wall and also whether there is spread to the organs, whether lymphatic or distant”. Once the stage of the cancer is determined, the treatment to be adopted is chosen.

According to international guidelines, protocols do not recommend preventive or prophylactic chemotherapy.

“At some stages, treatment can begin with surgery. That could be Kate Middleton’s situation,” he says.

He informs that adjuvant chemotherapy – carried out post-operatively and which is not preventive – is carried out “in situations of substaging or because, for example, some nodes already have disease are found”.

Is chemotherapy synonymous with an advanced stage of the disease?

Does the fact that the Princess of Wales is already undergoing chemotherapy mean that the disease is at a very advanced stage? The surgeon explains that this type of treatment is carried out “at stages that are still considered to be curative for the disease”.

“Normally, the most chosen schemes are: chemotherapy prior to intervention, intervention and then chemotherapy, but there may be schemes in which the person undergoes surgery and there is subsequent chemotherapy, as this may be the case”, explains the specialist.

He says that if Kate Middleton did not undergo prior chemotherapy it was because “there could be lymph node disease or a higher stage than previously thought”.

Alexandra Pupo remembers, however, that gastric cancer “is always an aggressive disease with a survival rate that is never long”.

“But we may be talking about a stage where the disease is still curative despite chemotherapy”, he reinforces.