AFP - Veteran US television correspondent Andrea Mitchell, the wife of former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, announced Wednesday that she has breast cancer but has received a "terrific prognosis."

Mitchell, 64, revealed on air that she had been diagnosed with the disease and said it had been discovered in the "earliest stage."

"I had planned to be hiking in Wyoming last week, but instead discovered that I am now among the one in eight women in this country, incredibly, one in eight, who have had breast cancer," she said.

"Mine was discovered during my annual screening just a short time ago," she said. "Luckily for me I am one of the fortunate ones.

"We discovered it in the earliest stage. It had not spread and I'm already back at work with a terrific prognosis," Mitchell said.

Mitchell hosts a one-hour politics show called "Andrea Mitchell Reports" on cable television channel MSNBC and is the chief foreign affairs correspondent for the NBC television network.