Kennedy out of "successful" surgery
WASHINGTON (AP) - June 2, 2008 "I feel like a million bucks. I think I'll do that again
tomorrow," the 76-year-old Massachusetts Democrat was quoted by a
family spokeswoman as telling his wife immediately afterward.
Dr. Allan Friedman, who performed the surgery at Duke University
Medical Center, pronounced the operation a success and said it
"accomplished our goals." Up next: chemotherapy and radiation,
aimed at shrinking whatever is left of the tumor.
"The main goal is to remove as much of the tumor as possible to
give any other therapy that we do a better chance of working,"
said Dr. John Sampson, associate deputy director of Duke's brain
tumor center.
The sole surviving son of America's most glamorous and tragic
political family was diagnosed last month with a malignant glioma,
an often lethal type of brain tumor discovered in about 9,000
Americans a year.
Details about Kennedy's exact type of tumor have not been
disclosed, but some cancer specialists said it might be a
glioblastoma multiforme - an especially deadly and tough-to-remove
type - because other kinds are more common in younger people.
Cutting a tumor down to size - or "debulking" it - is
especially delicate because of the risk of harming healthy brain
tissue that governs movement and speech. But Friedman - the top
neurosurgeon at Duke and an internationally known tumor and
vascular surgeon - said Kennedy should not experience any permanent
neurological effects.
Doctors said Kennedy was awake for much of the surgery, which
begins with opening the scalp and removing a piece of the skull to
expose the brain. Sometimes, to avoid damaging areas that control
speech, surgeons use a probe to stimulate parts of the brain, then
hold a conversation with the patient.
In the following days, Kennedy will probably be given drugs to
prevent brain swelling and seizures, which are possible
complications of his surgery. The senator will also be closely
watched for bleeding as well as blood clots, because strokes are
also a risk, though they are uncommon. He is expected to return to
Boston in about a week.
"After a brief recuperation, he will begin targeted radiation
at Massachusetts General Hospital and chemotherapy treatment,"
Friedman said. "I hope that everyone will join us in praying for
Sen. Kennedy to have an uneventful and robust recovery."
Doctors found the tumor last month after Kennedy suffered a
seizure at his home on Cape Cod.
Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., a longtime friend of Kennedy's,
said Kennedy threw himself into helping find treatment options in
much the same way he searched for cures when son Edward Jr. faced
bone cancer at age 12 and daughter Kara had lung cancer five years
ago.
He went so far was to pull Kara out of Johns Hopkins University
and brought her to a Boston hospital when he was not satisfied with
her initial course of treatment. In his own case, he met on Friday
with family and doctors at Mass General and decided then to head to
Duke for treatment, Delahunt said.
In Friedman, Kennedy picked "one of the thought leaders" in
the field of neuro-oncology as his surgeon, said Dr. Otis Brawley,
the top doctor at the American Cancer Society.
"He's an excellent surgeon. His patients are in very good
hands," said Dr. Matthew Ewend, the neurosurgery chief at the
nearby University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Typical radiation treatment is five days a week for a month,
using 3-D imaging techniques that narrowly deliver the beams to the
tumor, affecting as little surrounding tissue as possible.
"After completing treatment, I look forward to returning to the
United States Senate and to doing everything I can to help elect
Barack Obama as our next president," Kennedy said is a statement
issued before the surgery.
The outlook for patients with malignant gliomas is poor. Median
survival for patients with moderately severe malignant gliomas is
three to five years, and less than a year those with the most
severe type.
Nevertheless, Monday's operation "spells nothing but hope,"
Duke's Sampson said from Chicago, where he was attending a
conference of 30,000 cancer specialists. "What we're seeing with
the surgery and this conference is that there's hope for patients
with this kind of cancer."
Kennedy spoke on Sunday with Connecticut Democratic Sen.
Christopher Dodd, one of his closest friends. But in his typical
fighter's style, there was little talk about the cancer or his
impending surgery. Instead, it was all about a pair of legislative
measures - on mental health care and education - that Kennedy has
been working on for months.
"He wants to get them done and he expects to be here when they
are done," Dodd said. "He plans on coming back as soon as the
doctors will let him."
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Associated Press reporter Glen Johnson contributed to this
report from Boston, AP Writer Andrew Miga contributed from
Washington and AP Medical Writer Marilynn Marchione contributed
from Chicago.