Brazil’s Lula in cancer remission

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, 66, is in remission after treatment for larynx cancer, reported the Associated Press. Doctors found a tumor in Lula's throat last October. He has since undergone chemotherapy and radiation therapy, which ended last month.

José Chrispiniano, a spokesman for Lula's Citizenry Institute foundation, told Agence France-Presse that doctors have reported he is "in complete remission." 

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A hospital statement said "nuclear magnetic resonance and laryngoscopy exams show the absence of any visible tumor," according to BBC News. It added that the former-president would continue speech therapy and his progress would continue to be monitored.

President Dilma Rousseff said Lula, her predecessor and and mentor, called her while she was in New Delhi where she was attending a summit of the BRIC emerging powers, to tell her the good news.

"I am very happy," said Rousseff to AFP, who also recovered from cancer diagnosed in 2009. "I was expecting it. But having the certainty (that Lula is cured) is very good."

Lula, a former smoker, was released from the hospital earlier this month after receiving treatment for a lung infection, according to AFP. Doctors said developing a lung infection is common for someone after going through three cycles of chemotherapy and 33 radiation therapy sessions.