WATCH ABOVE: Mayor Ford’s director of communications Amin Massoudi said there was no update on the mayor’s condition and continued to ask for privacy for the family.
TORONTO – Toronto Mayor Rob Ford checked into Humber River Hospital Wednesday where he was diagnosed with a tumour in his abdomen. He was complaining of severe pain for months and doctors say the tumour isn’t small.
The details about Ford’s health are sparse, but doctors suggest answers could come within days.
“The basic results that determine if this is cancer or benign can be done within a day or two. Once you get into what type of cancer it is that takes more complicated testing and could take longer,” Dr. Malcolm Moore, a Princess Margaret Cancer Centre oncologist, told Global News.
He specializes in gastrointestinal cancer – including abdominal cancers – and treatment with chemotherapy.
READ MORE: Mayor Rob Ford in hospital with tumour
The typical next step is a biopsy, which would involve sticking a needle through the skin to wherever the mass has developed to grab a sample of the tumour. It’s then looked at under a microscope to make a diagnosis. That could take days.
WATCH: Rob Ford complained of abdominal pain while eating breakfast with his brother Doug Sept. 10. Doctors at Humber River Hospital performed a CT scan and found a tumour.
The abdomen is home to multiple organs – the stomach, the liver, the pancreas as well as the small intestine and the colon. The crushing pain Ford experienced for months could suggest that the tumour was growing for some time.
“There are a lot of things packed into the abdomen and if something starts to grow, it puts pressure on everything around there,” Moore explained.
It doesn’t automatically mean it’s cancer, though. The tumour could be benign. In other instances, there are different parts of the abdomen that could be affected. Many of the common cancers in Canada are in the abdomen – the second most common cancer in the country is colon cancer, followed by pancreas and stomach cancers that are also in the Top 10.
With so little information, Moore couldn’t speculate on Ford’s condition specifically.
“There are a lot of different diagnoses that could be made from that,” Dr. Alex Boussioutas told The Canadian Press. He’s a gastroenterologist from Australia’s Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, one of the country’s leading facilities.
“But the most common thing to be thinking about and the one that we would want to exclude would be colon cancer obviously…so if I had to hazard a guess as a clinician that’s what I would be thinking was happening,” he told the wire service.
If Ford’s doctors suspect that’s the case, they’d use X-ray imaging to try to identify where the cancer is — on the outside of the bowel or the inside.
Another concern is making sure the cancer hasn’t spread of if it’s linked to previous issues. In 2009, Ford had abdominal surgery to remove a tumour on his appendix.
If the tumour happens to be malignant, treatment options are wide and varied depending on the cancer he may be dealing with. The first option is conventional surgery to remove the cancer that’s obvious to doctors. Then, chemotherapy or radiation could be at play.
Cancer risk increases as patients get older. Ford, at only 45, is on the younger end of the spectrum. Ninety-five per cent of the time, common cancers appear in people older than 50, and the average is usually in their late 60s or 70s.
“Having said that we do see people younger than 50. It’s not unheard of,” Moore said.
Ford’s father, Doug Ford Sr. died of colon cancer in 2006. Keep in mind, it’s well documented that having close relatives develop cancer increases your risk.
“It doesn’t mean it’s definitely happening, but there are different recommendations around screening,” Moore noted.
Ford’s brother and campaign manager, Councillor Doug Ford, also spoke to the media. He said his brother was in “good spirits” and asked that family be given a few days to deal with the news.
When asked if Ford plans to drop out of the mayoral race to focus on his health, Doug said “no comment.”
The final day for a mayoral candidate to take their name off the ballot is Friday, Sept. 12.
– With files from the Canadian Press
carmen.chai@globalnews.ca
Follow @Carmen_Chai
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