Mayor Rob Ford has been diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of soft-tissue cancer and will begin chemotherapy within the next two days.

Dr. Zane Cohen told reporters at Mount Sinai Hospital late Wednesday afternoon that a biopsy on a large tumour found in Ford’s abdomen last week has determined that the mayor has liposarcoma.

Cohen also told reporters that doctors have discovered a second smaller tumour in the mayor’s buttocks, which is also malignant. The tumours are the result of the same type of cancer, he said.

Liposarcoma – or more specifically pleomorphic liposarcoma – makes up about one per cent of adult cancers.

The tumour found in Ford’s abdomen measures about 12 centimetres by 12 centimetres – roughly the size of a CD.

“We think it is a fairly aggressive tumour mainly because these types of tumours are slow growing and to get to the size it is now often takes years,” Cohen said, noting that a CT scan conducted on the mayor in 2011 did not show any signs of cancer. “However, we are optimistic about this tumour. The reason I say that is that we have experts sitting in house that treat, manage and research on sarcoma.”

Cohen said that the particular type of cancer Ford has been diagnosed with is “more sensitive to chemotherapy than most sarcomas, which is an optimistic statement in and of itself.”

Nonetheless, the doctor noted that the tumour is a “very difficult one” and refused to provide an estimate of the mayor’s chances at a full recovery.

 “It is such a variable tumour and such a rare tumour that the answer is no for that reason,” Cohen said when asked the guess the cancer treatment’s success rate.

Ford family informed of diagnosis in last 72 hours

Ford admitted himself to hospital last Wednesday after feeling abdominal pain during breakfast.

A CT scan then revealed the tumour and doctors ordered a biopsy to determine whether it was malignant.

Cohen told reporters that an initial biopsy “did not yield sufficient material to make a diagnosis,” but said a second biopsy lead to a more conclusive diagnosis, which was shared with the mayor sometime in the last 72 hours.

The mayor will now undergo three days of chemotherapy at which point he should be able to go home for 17 days prior to the start of another round of chemotherapy, Cohen said.

“Chemotherapy affects different people in different ways and it is impossible to predict how it is going to affect him,” Cohen said. “Of course everyone knows that chemotherapy is chemotherapy and he will have some tough days but I think he is going to have more good days than bad days.”

Cohen said the mayor may eventually require radiation or surgery, however doctors will first wait to see how the tumor responds to chemotherapy before undergoing further treatment.

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