Former president Jimmy Carter had been responding well to his cancer treatment according to his spokeswoman, Deanna Congileo on Tuesday.
In the statement, Congileo said that Carter was advised by Doctors at Emory University's Winship Cancer Institute "that recent tests have shown there is no evidence of new malignancy, and his original problem is responding well to treatment."
However, more tests will need to be done to assure Carter's recovery.
It was in August that Carter announced that he had been diagnosed with a form of melanoma and according to his doctors, four tumors were found on his brain. He had undergone radiation treatment and four doses of Keytruda, a newly-approved immune-boosting drug to help his body combat new cancer growth.
Carter said that no discomfort was experienced during the entire process. The drugs were administered several weeks apart.
A melanoma specialist at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Dr. Sapna Patel said that the statement gives "a lot of reason to be optimistic."
"We couldn't infer necessarily that the cancer is gone, but nothing is spreading, nothing is growing, nothing is worsening," Sapna said. "This is considered really good news, if after a few short months, nothing is growing ... and there doesn't appear to be any new cancer."
She also added that the treatment might go on for up to two years if the president remains respondent.
Deputy chief medical officer Dr. Len Lichtenfeld of the American Cancer Society said that the report given by Carters doctors is "the best news possible" for patients suffering with the same condition as the former president. He also said that this does not imply that the cancer cells are totally gone. But no new cancer growth was found after a thorough tests conducted.
"We certainly hope the president will continue on his current course," Lichtenfeld said. "At this point, it appears his treatment has been as effective as possible."
Carter had founded The Carter Center, a humanitarian foundation he built when his term for presidency ended.
Despite his illness, Carter had remained active in his foundation. He even volunteered on a home-building project for Habitat for Humanity.
He also went back to his hometown church in Plains, Georgia to teach Sunday school to children.
