Politics
Does Putin Have Cancer?
An investigation into the medical personnel around him points to thyroid cancer
Many have been questioning the health of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president. A new investigation from a Russian outlet, Proekt, speculates that he is suffering from thyroid cancer.
Both chemotherapy and steroids are used to treat a certain type of thyroid cancer, and both would cause the unusual facial puffiness that has become noticeable lately in photos of Putin.
The survival rates of thyroid cancer are excellent, 98% after 5 years. However, there is a rare type of thyroid cancer, anaplastic thyroid cancer, which is most commonly found in people over the age of 60.
Anaplastic cancer is extremely aggressive and fast-growing. The 5-year survival rate is 31% unless it has spread beyond the thyroid. In that case, the 5-year survival rate falls to 10%.
It is not treated like other thyroid cancers. Instead of radioactive iodine therapy or Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) suppression, anaplastic thyroid cancer is treated with surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy.
A compromised immune system from chemotherapy would explain the extraordinary efforts Putin has made to distance himself from both official…
