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WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s doctors at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center say his prostate cancer prognosis is excellent and no further treatments will be needed after seeing him for a follow-up appointment Friday.
The disclosure of the treatment Friday stood in contrast to the long silence about his hospitalization, which was kept secret for days not only from the public but from President Joe Biden.
“Beyond planned physical therapy and regular post-prostatectomy follow up appointments, he has no planned further treatment for his cancer,” Walter Reed trauma medical director Dr. John Maddox and Murtha Cancer Center director Dr. Gregory Chesnut said in a statement Friday.
Austin made his first public appearance earlier this week during a virtual Ukraine contact defense group meeting. Although visible only through a web camera. Austin appeared slightly gaunt.
Austin had what the Pentagon described as “minimally invasive surgical procedure," called a prostatectomy to treat the cancer on Dec. 22. He was under general anesthesia during this procedure and had transferred some authorities to his deputy defense secretary Kathleen Hicks. He was discharged the next day and continued to perform his duties.
Austin was taken by ambulance to Walter Reed on Jan. 1 in extreme pain and was admitted to the intensive care unit. He stayed there for two weeks.
Austin did not inform the White House or even his deputy that he'd been hospitalized and only told Biden about his diagnosis more than a week after he'd been admitted to the ICU. The incident has prompted both an internal Pentagon review and an IG review into its notification procedures. Both reviews are ongoing.