Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva left hospital on Monday after a procedure to remove potentially pre-cancerous patches from his vocal cord, doctors said, adding that they had found no abnormal tissue mass in the process.
Doctors at Sao Paulo's Sirio Libanes Hospital, where the 77-year-old Lula was treated for throat cancer 11 years ago, said the procedure had removed small white patches called 'leukoplakia' from his vocal cords.
Leukoplakia, also called 'smokers keratosis', can be caused by repeated injury and irritation or exposure to smoking and alcohol. In a minority of cases, it can develop into cancer.
The doctors said in a note that they had found no signs of "neoplasm," or abnormal tissue mass, during the procedure.
Lula's gravelly voice had gone hoarse in the final months of Brazil's presidential election, which he won last month, denying a second term to right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro.
(Reporting by Steven Grattan; Editing by Brad Haynes and Chizu Nomiyama)
