US Supreme Court judge Ginsburg undergoes surgery for pancreatic cancer

February 5, 2009

United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 75, has undergone surgery for early pancreatic cancer today. The disease was spotted during a routine check-up. She is likely to be hospitalised for ten days.

"Justice Ginsburg had no symptoms prior to the incidental discovery of the lesion during a routine annual checkup in late January at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland," the Supreme Court announced.

Ginsburg underwent sugery and had chemotherapy for colorectal cancer in 1999; her mother and husband also suffered from cancer.

She was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton in 1993, and is considered to be on the liberal wing of the nine-member court.

A spokesman for President Barack Obama said that Obama's thoughts and prayers are with Ginsburg.

According to the American Cancer Society, the one-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is 24%, and the five-year survival rate is 5%.