SAO PAULO (AFP) - Brazil's former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was given the all clear here on Saturday after tests showed no sign of the throat cancer he was diagnosed with two years ago.

"The medical team did not notice a return of the disease," Professor Roberto Kalil Filho of Sao Paulo's Sirio-libanes hospital told a press conference.

"He is in excellent health," he added.

Lula underwent a PET/CT tomography scan, a Magnetic Resonance Imaging scan and a laryngoscopy, and all three test results were deemed normal, the doctors said.

The 67-year-old former president later returned to his suburban Sao Paulo home.

Prof Kalil Filho said Mr Lula would undergo the next round of routine tests early next year.

Last year Mr Lula announced his return to politics after being told the cancer he had battled for months was in remission following weeks of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Mr Lula, Brazil's first leftist president, was in power from January 2003 to December 2010.

He left office with a 80 per cent approval rating, and was succeeded by his protege and fellow ruling Workers Party member Dilma Rousseff.