The Imperial Household Agency has announced that Emperor Naruhito will have to undergo an MRI scan to have a further evaluation after some values in a routine blood test have warranted such a step.
His Imperial Majesty will undergo the test at the beginning of November, according to sources, and does not intend to change his schedule, which includes a visit to Okinawa on the 22nd of October.
The marker that awoke concerns is labelled “PSA” (Prostate-Specific Antigen) and is related to the presence of cancer in the prostate. The Agency specified that the Emperor undertakes these tests every six months, and so far, nothing of concern came up.
However, on the 3rd of October, they announced that a slightly above-average number for the PSA marker in his routine blood analyses prompted the Emperor’s doctors to recommend further testing to check for the presence of any prostate cancer.
The Emperor is said to be feeling no symptoms at all, which is why there is no plan to alter his schedule for the moment. It is understood that the hospital trip for the MRI will only take one day.
According to the NHS website, elevated PSA markers are not always an indication of prostate cancer; “About 3 in 4 men with a raised PSA level will not have cancer, and around 1 in 7 men with a normal PSA level will have prostate cancer”, says the Agency.
The situation only seems to raise concerns because Naruhito’s father, Akihito, the former Emperor, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2003. He successfully underwent surgery to remove the tissue and fully recovered. Previous family history of cancer is always one of the indicators that prompt early action.
It is not clear at the moment if the Imperial Household Agency will communicate the results of the MRI to the public, but, considering precedent and this press release, people can expect to know something about those results.
