US supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg underwent surgery on her lung on Friday to remove cancerous growths.

The 85-year-old judge recently recovered from broken ribs after a fall at her office in Washington shortly after the midterm elections.

A statement put out by the supreme court said she underwent a pulmonary lobectomy in New York on Friday to remove two nodules from her lung.

They were discovered to be malignant. “Post-surgery, there was no evidence of any remaining disease,” the court’s public information office said.

A lengthy statement provided by the supreme court said “two nodules in the lower lobe of her left lung were discovered incidentally during tests performed at George Washington University Hospital to diagnose and treat rib fracutres sustained in a fall on 7 November”.

Ginsburg was operated on on Friday morning at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, a renowned oncology hospital.

The procedure was carried out by thoracic surgeon Valerie Rusch, the statement said. “Both nodules removed during surgery were found to be malignant on initial pathology evaluation … scans performed before surgery indicated no evidence of disease elsewhere in the body.”

Ginsburg was said to be resting comfortably and was expected to remain in the hospital “for a few days”. No further treatment is currently planned.

Ginsburg is the most prominent justice among what is considered the liberal wing of the court.

She was appointed by Bill Clinton during his presidency and took the oath of office on 10 August, 1993. She was only the second female justice to be confirmed to the supreme court, after the groundbreaking appointment of Sandra Day O’Connor.

Only four women have ever been confirmed to the court and Ginsburg currently sits with two other women on the nine-member bench, alongside Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, who were both appointed by Barack Obama.