Colombia's president Juan Manuel Santos travels to US for prostate cancer exam

Bogota: Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said he is making a brief trip to the US for medical exams to guard against a possible return of prostate cancer.

Santos, who won this year's Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end Colombia's five-decade-old civil conflict, yesterday said he and his family were surprised when doctors detected an increase in prostate-specific antigen during a routine checkup.

He said he would undergo tests at the Johns Hopkins Institute in Baltimore on Thursday and return home the next day.

The president had surgery in 2012 to remove a tumor in his prostate.

Santos said that while he is in the United States he will also meet with Vice President Joe Biden as well as Republican and Democrat leaders to explain a modified peace agreement reached over the weekend with leftist rebels.