US ex-president Jimmy Carter no longer needs cancer treatment

Washington, March 7: Former US president Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) has said that he no longer needs cancer treatment after undergoing six months of radiotherapy and experimental drugs to combat four brain tumours.

Carter, 91, made the announcement on Sunday during catechism classes that he gives every week in a Baptist church in the town of Plains in Georgia, US, which is also his birthplace, Efe news agency reported.

"It is a treatment called immunotherapy and it removed the obstacles to my own immune system to fight against the cancer," said Carter.

"It is complicated but it has worked very well for me and last week I had an MRI for two hours and 10 minutes and then the doctors determined that I did not need any more treatment," he added.

Carter Centre spokeswoman Deanna Congileo confirmed that the former president has finished the treatment that began last August but "will continue scans and resume treatment if necessary".

IANS