Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Supreme Court Justice treated for tumour on her pancreas

Supreme Court says justice responded well to treatment and no other signs of cancer have been discovered

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been treated for a tumour on her pancreas, according to a court spokesperson.

The tumour was determined to be malignant, a spokesperson said, adding that no additional treatment would be required at this time.

The 86-year-old justice reportedly began radiation treatment for the localized cancerous tumour on 5 August in New York City on an outpatient basis.

She has battled numerous bouts of cancer in past decades, including lung cancer last year, when she underwent surgery in December.

“Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg today completed a three-week course of stereotactic ablative radiation therapy at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York City," the Supreme Court said in a statement. “The focused radiation treatment began on August 5 and was administered on an outpatient basis to treat a tumour on her pancreas. The abnormality was first detected after a routine blood test in early July, and a biopsy performed on July 31 at Sloan Kettering confirmed a localized malignant tumour.”

The Supreme Court also said a bile duct was placed inside of the Supreme Court justice as part of her treatment.

Ginsburg “tolerated treatment well,” the statement continued, adding: “She cancelled her annual summer visit to Santa Fe, but has otherwise maintained an active schedule.”

“The tumour was treated definitively and there is no evidence of disease elsewhere in the body,” the statement read. “Justice Ginsburg will continue to have periodic blood tests and scans. No further treatment is needed at this time."

In a recent interview with NPR, Ginsburg shot down critics who have lambasted her amid numerous health scares.

“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," she said. "That senator, whose name I have forgotten, is now himself dead, and I," she added with a smile, "am very much alive."