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Mr. Chávez has not been seen and has not spoken in public since his Dec. 11 surgery in Havana, including after officials said he was flown back to Venezuela and installed in a military hospital here on Feb. 18. His long isolation has fueled speculation about the gravity of his illness.

The government has given only partial information about his condition, leaving Venezuelans playing a guessing game, trying to piece together a fuller picture from the scant details that are parceled out.

The new information adds to the recent description by the president's son-in-law, Science and Technology Minister Jorge Arreaza, of Mr. Chávez's treatment as "palliative," which could indicate that doctors consider his cancer incurable and they are concentrating their efforts on reducing pain or slowing the progress of the disease.

On Friday Vice President Nicolás Maduro said that Mr. Chávez was undergoing "complementary treatments," a phrase that officials had used previously without specifying what the treatments were.

But this time Mr. Maduro added, "You know what the complementary treatments are, don't you? Well, the chemotherapy that they apply to the patient after an operation, as he went through chemotherapy and radiation therapy after the operations in 2011 and 2012."

Speaking after a mass to inaugurate a small chapel erected near the military hospital where officials say Mr. Chávez is staying, he described the treatments as being hard and said that Mr. Chávez is in a "battle for his life" but in good spirits.

Mr. Arreaza, the son in law, did not say what he meant by the term palliative treatments. Medical experts not involved with Mr. Chávez's care said chemotherapy or radiation could be used as palliative treatments for cancer, such as to slow down the growth of a tumor that is causing a patient pain.

"The definition of palliative treatment is that the cancer can't be cured and one is treating only to make the person comfortable and relieve discomfort," said Dr. Julio Pow-Sang, an oncologist at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla.

Dr. Edward Greeno, an oncologist at the University of Minnesota said that palliative treatments can go on for an extended period, depending on the type of cancer.

"It doesn't always mean the end is close," Dr. Greeno said. "Sometimes you can keep things controlled for a long time. But it does mean that you're not trying to get rid of the cancer or control the cancer but you are providing symptom control and maybe provide increased survival time."