Former president Jimmy Carter has cancer, and it has spread to several parts of his body, the CNN quoted him as saying.

Carter, 90, had a "small mass" removed from his liver during surgery earlier this month. At the time, he received a prognosis for a full recovery.

But he said in a brief statement that "recent liver surgery revealed that I have cancer that now is in other parts of my body."

It was not clear where the cancer originated or where it had spread. Carter's family, however, has a history of pancreatic cancer, which could be afflicting the former president. Carter lost his father, brother and two sisters to the disease. His mother had breast cancer, which later moved to her pancreas.