{"id":1339,"date":"2020-09-15T11:58:44","date_gmt":"2020-09-15T16:58:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patriciajaniot.news\/?p=1339"},"modified":"2025-04-22T00:00:09","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T05:00:09","slug":"half-truths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patriciajaniot.news\/index.php\/en\/2020\/09\/15\/half-truths\/","title":{"rendered":"Half Truths"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I am pleased that the senator and former Colombian\npresidential candidate, Gustavo Petro, disclosed his medical history in which\nhe discloses information about the medical procedures he underwent in Cuba and\ntheir respective results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"es\" dir=\"ltr\">Aqu\u00ed publico mi historia cl\u00ednica. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8jXQ8ZJl5z\">pic.twitter.com\/8jXQ8ZJl5z<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/petrogustavo\/status\/1253302663309131776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 23, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I am even more pleased that he is in good health and that\nthe \u201csquamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus\u201d, which he was initially\ndiagnosed with at the Center for Surgical Medical Research (CIMEQ) in Cuba,\ndoes not exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By reading the published document and listening to the\nannouncement made by the senator with the result of his last endoscopy, key\ninformation was provided that would have prevented the credibility scandal in\nwhich Petro has been involved since the diagnosis obtained in Cuba was made\npublic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"es\" dir=\"ltr\">Reporte de mi Estado de salud <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Ssn4nfNbx9\">pic.twitter.com\/Ssn4nfNbx9<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/petrogustavo\/status\/1253154034095185922?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 23, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finally, it was confirmed that the endoscopic\nexaminations and studies carried out in Colombia did not find \u201cevidence of\nmalignancy in the samples\u201d. That is to say, in three Colombian clinics they\ndetermined that Gustavo Petro did not have cancer, although the senator\nstrangely only mentions tests in two Colombian health centers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If Petro had included this information in his initial\nannouncement on Twitter on April 10, if he had not spoken half-truths, surely\nDr. Fernando Sierra of the Santa Fe Foundation in Bogot\u00e1 would not have reacted\nby sending an unfortunate message to another person to say &#8220;nowhere did we\nsee cancer.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"es\" dir=\"ltr\">Comunicado sobre la situaci\u00f3n de mi salud <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/jDBf02v5RW\">pic.twitter.com\/jDBf02v5RW<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/petrogustavo\/status\/1248682699713363968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 10, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the audio message, which should never have been\nrecorded and much ] shared, the Colombian doctor says that it is &#8220;all\ntalk&#8221; and rules out the existence of malignant cells, after reviewing the\ndiagnosis, endoscopy, biopsies and endoscopic ultrasound from Cuba, and after\nhaving taken &#8220;multiple biopsies&#8221; in Colombia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of Gustavo Petro&#8217;s squires, Senator Gustavo Bol\u00edvar,\nsays that Petro wanted to keep his state of health under wraps, but was\n&#8220;forced&#8221; to announce his medical situation as a result of the fact\nthat the senator&#8217;s trips to Havana and images of the place where he was staying\nwere made public. A monitoring and espionage that must be condemned. But, why\ndid Petro not mention, in his initial announcement on April 10, the three\nfavorable diagnoses he obtained in Colombia?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a tweet released on April 22, I reported that the\nsenator did not have cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"es\" dir=\"ltr\">El senador y ex candidato presidencial <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/colombia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#colombia<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/petrogustavo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@petrogustavo<\/a> confirm\u00f3 que no tiene c\u00e1ncer.  El mismo diagn\u00f3stico que le hab\u00edan dado m\u00e9dicos colombianos (3) y que compart\u00ed en mi m\u00e1s reciente columna.  Felicidades senador. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JTq8IayI3o\">https:\/\/t.co\/JTq8IayI3o<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Patricia Janiot (@patriciajaniot) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/patriciajaniot\/status\/1253163307361546245?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 23, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Petro did not remain silent and replied through the same\nsocial network: \u201cNo, Patricia, you&#8217;re wrong. And I must say that questioning\nmedical opinions is unethical. I know that medicine is not an exact science,\nbut neither is it the product of political conspiracies. The diagnosis is clear\nand contradicts you\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"es\" dir=\"ltr\">No Patricia te equivocas. Y debo decir que poner en duda dict\u00e1menes m\u00e9dicos  no es \u00e9tico. <br><br>Se que la medicina no es una ciencia exacta pero tampoco es el producto de conspiraciones pol\u00edticas.<br><br>El diagnostico es claro y la contradice <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/57bydDomrb\">https:\/\/t.co\/57bydDomrb<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/AshFwoXJXV\">pic.twitter.com\/AshFwoXJXV<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/petrogustavo\/status\/1253303715181793282?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 23, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To dispel the doubts that Petro himself generated with\nthe public announcements about his health, I consulted several doctors who do\nknow how to interpret the results of medical examinations and evaluations. I\nspoke with gastrointestinal specialists from prestigious US hospitals and with\na professor of Pathology from a Colombian university who analyzed the \u201csummary\nof the clinical history\u201d of Gustavo Petro issued by the Cuban CIMEQ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to Senator Gustavo Petro and his medical\nhistory, the second endoscopy performed in Cuba was to &#8220;eradicate the\ncells with carcinoma&#8221; or &#8220;to perform the excision (removal) of the\ndescribed lesion.&#8221; It refers to the lesion of more than 3 centimeters that\nwas found at the junction of the esophagus with the stomach with a histological\ndiagnosis of \u201csquamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus\u201d. This is the result of\na biopsy or analysis by a pathologist under a microscope of the abnormal\ntissue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This lesion that was removed in the second endoscopy and\nwhich was not small in size, was submitted again to a pathology evaluation to\nconfirm or rule out carcinoma. The result of the biopsy or the histological\ndiagnosis came with good news: he does not have cancer and, instead, Senator\nPetro suffers from \u201cchronic esophagitis with marked fibrosis down to the\nmuscularis propria. Squamous epithelial and mucosecretory hyperplasia with low\nand high grade multifocal dysplasia, predominantly low grade \u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In other words, they found chronic inflammation and scars\nin the tissue, typical of a recurrent reflux that generated some changes by\nthickening a part of the mucosa of the esophagus. They also determined a\n\u201cmultifocal dysplasia (\u2026) with a low grade predominance\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to gastroenterologist Dr. Robert Strauss, a\nmember of the American Gastroenterological Association, \u201cDysplasia is a term\nused to describe cells that are not normal. They are inflammatory or\npremalignant changes, but they are not cancer cells \u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I also consulted with Colombian doctor Juan Sarmiento, a\nsurgeon specializing in liver and pancreatic cancer, who works in the\nDepartment of General and Gastrointestinal Surgery at Emory University, and who\nsaved the life of former United States President Jimmy Carter after operating\non him for melanoma in the liver. In his analysis of the CIMEQ medical history,\nDr. Sarmiento specifies: \u201cIf one has a mucosa that is subjected to a chronic\ninflammatory process, changes in the cellular architecture occur. This is\ncalled dysplasia, which is not cancer. Untreated low-grade dysplasia can\nincrease in intensity to medium and high grade, and turn into cancer after\nseveral years \u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both doctors agree that if the initial diagnosis of\ncancer had been confirmed, the biopsy of the lesion extracted in the second\nendoscopy should read \u201csquamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus\u201d. This is not\nthe case with Gustavo Petro. The question then arises whether the cancer\nexisted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Between the first diagnosis on March 2 and the removal of\nthe suspicious lesion on April 13, 6 weeks passed. I asked the doctors: At what\npoint, according to Gustavo Petro&#8217;s medical history, did the cancer disappear?\nWas the carcinoma removed in the last endoscopy, as expressed by Gustavo Petro\nand his closest collaborators?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dr. Sarmiento gave me his chronological analysis. \u201cThe\npatient travels to Cuba where he underwent an endoscopy in which he was\ndiagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the gastroesophageal junction. There\nis no evidence of treatment in the first procedure, only a biopsy was\nperformed. The patient travels to Colombia where they see the lesion described\nin Cuba, but the biopsies do not diagnose cancer. He returns to Cuba where he\nundergoes another endoscopy with resection (removal) of the lesion without\nfinding evidence of malignancy. The problem I see is that there was no treatment\nfor the lesion, only biopsies. And cancer is not cured with reflux treatment.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dr. Sarmiento adds to his interpretation: \u201cHow is it\nexplained? Either the original diagnosis is not correct, and he never had that\ntumor, or the initial biopsy samples were so generous that they removed cancer\ncells and therefore no evidence of tumor remains in the final resection\nspecimen, which is very improbable. The answer lies in the pathologist who\ndiagnosed the cancerous tumor in the first instance \u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A professor of Pathology to whom I requested his opinion\nagrees with Dr. Sarmiento. &#8220;If it was only in situ lesion, perhaps; but a\nlarge 3-centimeter lesion that has already ruptured the basement membrane and\nthat was already in the submucosa, it is very unlikely that an endoscopic\nbiopsy will be removed \u201d. The professor adds: \u201cNo malignant tumor lesion is\ngoing to reverse itself in a month and a half, and less without chemotherapy or\nradiotherapy treatment. That is perfectly impossible. &#8220;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dr. Strauss points out that the result \u201cinitially seems\ncontradictory, and without seeing the copies of the biopsies and the complete\nfile, doubt persists. But what could have happened is that the biopsy samples\nwere taken before the inflammation was treated. The result is more reliable if\nthey first resolve the inflammation and then do another procedure to determine if\nthey have dysplasia or cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another Colombian gastroenterologist, who did not want to\nbe identified, agreed with Dr. Strauss. \u201cIf you take samples from\nreflux-inflamed tissue because it has acid irritation, it&#8217;s easy for it to\nresemble tumor cells on biopsy, and it&#8217;s easy to mistake it for cancer. I think\nit was an inflamed tissue, it improved and there is still dysplasia \u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the end, it is the pathologist who diagnosed the\ncarcinoma at CIMEQ in Cuba who has one of the answers that I am looking for. However,\nthe university professor of Pathology gave me a clue: &#8220;I sometimes, with a\nlittle sarcasm, say that many of the cancers that are cured are those in which\npathologists have made mistakes.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One thing that is true without a doubt is that Senator\nGustavo Petro trusts Cuban doctors much more than Colombian doctors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">* The reference to the Main (Definitive) Diagnosis\nlocated at the top of the summary of Gustavo Petro&#8217;s medical history, refers to\na work diagnosis that, according to the same document, was later discarded (see\ndocument image).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">** The doctors consulted indicated that, unlike the type\nof cancer diagnosed in Gustavo Petro in Cuba, the most common cancer of the\ndistal third of the esophagus is adenocarcinoma.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am pleased that the senator and former Colombian presidential candidate, Gustavo Petro, disclosed his medical history in which he discloses information about the medical procedures he underwent in Cuba and their respective results. I am even more pleased that he is in good health and that the \u201csquamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus\u201d, which&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-en"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patriciajaniot.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patriciajaniot.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patriciajaniot.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patriciajaniot.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patriciajaniot.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1339"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.patriciajaniot.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1340,"href":"https:\/\/www.patriciajaniot.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1339\/revisions\/1340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patriciajaniot.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patriciajaniot.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patriciajaniot.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}