Pop diva Kylie Minogue is undergoing medical tests in the Australian city of Melbourne in preparation for breast cancer surgery later this week, her management said in a statement on Thursday.

Initial tests showed the cancer was confined to the breast.

Minogue announced on Tuesday that she had been diagnosed with early breast cancer and postponed her Australian and Asian “Showgirl Tour” concerts.

“Kylie is currently undergoing tests at a first class medical facility in Melbourne in preparation for an operation this week by one of Australia’s leading surgeons,” said the statement.

“Thankfully, tests so far have confirmed the earlier diagnosis that the cancer appears to be confined to the breast.”

Early breast cancer means the disease is confined to the breast, has not spread to vital organs and can be surgically removed, according to the National Breast Cancer Centre.

Surgery would usually involve cutting out just the cancer if it were small enough, or removing the entire breast, followed by radiotherapy and possibly chemotherapy. Such treatment can take anywhere from six weeks to six months to complete.

Kylie Minogue rose from humble showbiz beginnings as a teenage actress in the soap opera “Neighbours” in the 1980s to international stardom as one of the world’s top pop singers.

The music star, who is signed to EMI, is worth about A$60 million (US$46 million), according to a 2004 list of rich young Australians compiled by BRW magazine.

Minogue issued a short statement on Thursday thanking her worldwide fans for their overwhelming support during the past two days and reassured them she was being taken care of by her boyfriend, French actor Olivier Martinez, and her family in Melbourne.

“My heartfelt thanks to the incredible number of people who have sent messages of love and support over the last two days,” said Minogue.

Minogue also sent a message of support to women battling breast cancer around the world and asked her fans not to send her flowers but to make a donation to the Cancer Council in her Australian home state of Victoria ( http://www.cancervic.org.au/kylie ).

“I would also like to extend my best wishes to all of the other women around Australia and around the world who are dealing with the same illness,” she said.

Breast cancer is the biggest cause of cancer deaths in Australian women, unlike the United States and Britain where it is the second behind lung cancer, says the National Breast Cancer Centre in Sydney.

Almost 12,000 women are diagnosed with the disease each year in Australia. Latest available statistics show 2,594 women died from breast cancer in Australia in 2001. But breast cancer in young women, like Minogue, is rare with only 600 women in their 30s diagnosed annually across the country.

Minogue’s illness has received huge media coverage worldwide, especially in Britain where she lives, heightening awareness of breast cancer with analysis of the disease and warnings to women that early detection is crucial.