Almost two years ago, President Laurentino Cortizo was diagnosed with intermediate-risk myelodysplastic syndrome.
The President of the Republic, Laurentino Cortizo, will be subjected to a process of blood transfusion, on Monday morning, the Presidency of the Republic confirmed through a brief message
The process is part of the medical treatment of which the Panamanian president is subjected for his illness, he said.
Cortizo will be attended from 9:00 a.m. today and resume its functions in the afternoon.
About two years ago, the President of the Republic, Laurentino Cortizo, informed Panamanians that he had been diagnosed with myelodysplastic intermediate-risk syndrome.
Myelodysplastic syndrome is a clonal condition in the bone marrow, and it is a failure in normal cell production such as white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets.
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American international guides place it as a type of cancer in the blood and the most conservative European guidelines, talk about a clonal disorder, detail specialists in internal medicine and hematooncology.
Myelodysplastic syndrome occurs when the damage comes to compromise the largest number of cells or the blood factory. If it affects the red blood cells, anemia occurs, the patient will feel tired, fatigued, untapped, with palpitations, difficulty breathing or difficulty developing some physical activities; if it compromises the series of platelets you will have manifestations of bleeding and bruising; if you compromise white blood cells you will have risk of infections.
The higher risk, the shorter the time when syndrome can be transformed into leukemia, which dramatically changes life expectancy, which can be estimated to be up to six months, experts say.
In his latest control and evaluation tests for “low-risk omolodydysplasia” to which the president was subjected, a decrease in hemoglobin levels was detected for which adjustments in his treatment were recommended.
The tests were performed on the MD Anderson in Houston, a University of Texas oncology center, and preliminary results indicate that myelodysplastic syndrome “is in remission,” a Panamanian presidency statement said last April.
This article has been translated after first appearing in Pan America