RIO DE JANEIRO -- Brazilian Vice President Jose Alencar has been hospitalized for enteritis - inflammation of the intestinal tract - and will undergo treatment for an undetermined period of time, his doctors said Sunday.

Alencar, who has been fighting cancer since 1997, was hospitalized Saturday after he experienced intense abdominal pain.

The vice president was taken to Sao Paulo's Syrian Lebanese Hospital when he became ill during a ceremony at the army's Agulhas Negras Military Academy in Resende.

Tests showed that Alencar is suffering from inflammation of the mucous membrane of the small intestine, the hospital's public affairs office said.

Since being diagnosed with cancer, Alencar has undergone seven operations and chemotherapy.

In September, the vice president spent three days at the same hospital, where three abdominal tumors were removed.

The 76-year-old Alencar had surgery two years ago to remove cancerous tissues from his abdomen.

The vice president had kidney, stomach and prostate tumors removed between 1997 and 2000.

Alencar, a businessman and leader of the conservative Brazilian Republican Party, was elected as Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's running mate in 2002 and re-elected in 2006. EFE