Ruth Bader Ginsburg announces she's cancer-free after successful treatment of pancreatic tumor

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's revealed that her year is off to a good start during a rare interview with CNN in her chambers on Tuesday. The 86-year-old who underwent a three-week course of radiation for a tumor on her pancreas in August last year informed the publication that she is now cancer-free. "I'm cancer free. That's good," the icon said. Justice Ginsburg—one of four liberal justices on the nine-member court—has resumed her active schedule. Her latest interview comes as the Supreme Court prepares to resume oral arguments for 2020 next week.

According to CBS News, Ginsburg has undergone treatment for cancer twice in the past 13 months—having the tumor removed from her pancreas in August and 2 cancerous nodules on her lung taken out in December 2018. Doctors discovered the localized malignant tumor on her pancreas after a routine blood test, and a biopsy at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, reports The New York Times.

The National Cancer Institute states that the 5-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer that is localized is 37%. However, patients often do not show symptoms—including abdominal pain, jaundice, lack of appetite, and weight loss—until the cancer has spread to other organs. In the United States, in 53% of pancreatic cancer cases, the cancer will already have metastasized to distant organs by the time it is discovered, thus reducing the 5-year survival rate to 2.9%.

A release sent by the Supreme Court in August 2019, stated with certainty that the tumor had been treated and that there was no evidence of disease elsewhere in Ginsburg's body. "The Justice tolerated treatment well. She canceled her annual summer visit to Santa Fe but has otherwise maintained an active schedule. No further treatment is needed at this time," the statement said. The renowned justice has quite a history with health issues—suffering three fractured ribs on her left side after a fall in her office in late 2018 and being hospitalized yet again in November last year for chills and fever.

In total, Ginsburg—the court's oldest justice—has been treated for cancer 4 times in the past 2 decades. Meanwhile, both liberals and conservatives have been keeping a close watch on her health as she is expected to play a key role in a number of landmark cases that are scheduled to come before the court this year. These include the Louisiana abortion law, a Second Amendment case, and the Democrats' efforts to release Donald Trump's tax and financial records, therefore another retirement or vacancy on the court while Trump is President would not go in favor of the Democratic party.

On the other hand, Ginsburg brushed aside concerns about her health during an interview with NPR last year, saying, "There was a senator, I think it was after my pancreatic cancer, who announced with great glee that I was going to be dead within six months. That senator, whose name I have forgotten, is now himself dead, and I am very much alive."