SAO PAULO: Brazil's ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was discharged from hospital here late Tuesday after undergoing a third chemotherapy session that dramatically reduced the size of the cancer tumor in his throat, the hospital said.
A terse statement from Sao Paulo's Sirio-Libanes Hospital said Lula left the facility and "must continue receiving chemotherapy medication until Saturday."
Monday doctors said Lula's tumor had been reduced by 75 percent, calling the development "extraordinary."
Earlier Tuesday, President Dilma Rousseff hailed her predecessor's improving health.
She told reporters that she spoke with the popular ex-president Monday.
"He was very happy because no one expected the outcome (of the treatment) to be so good," she said.
"We are very happy with the news," said Rousseff, who announced last year that she had fully recovered from lymphatic cancer for which she was treated in 2009.
Lula, Brazil's first leftist president, led the country from January 2003 to December 2010. He left office with a soaring 80 percent approval rating after two consecutive terms in office.
"We know that (Lula) has a fundamental trait: he has fantastic optimism. He's somebody who has faced a host of challenges that he has always been able to overcome."
"This a message for all those people who go through this disease. I am one case. President Lula is another," said the president, who next month will celebrate her first year in office.
Earlier Tuesday, Health Minister Alexandre Padilha visited Lula, 66 and said the ex-president was in excellent shape and his doctors were extremely pleased with his progress.
Doctors have said that Lula will undergo weeks of radiation therapy early next year to "completely eliminate the cancer."
Lula is expected to resume normal activities afterward.
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