by Richard Mercier June 2, 2008
US Senator Edward Kennedy underwent "successful" brain cancer surgery Monday, his doctor said, as the political icon vowed a return to work and to campaigning for presidential hopeful Barack Obama.
"I am pleased to report that Senator Kennedy's surgery was successful and accomplished our goals," Duke University Medical Center doctor Allan Freidman said in a statement.
"Senator Kennedy was awake during the resection, and should therefore experience no permanent neurological effects from the surgery," said Freidman, one of the country's top brain surgeons.
The delicate three-and-a-half hour surgery, Freidman said, was "the first step" in the Democratic party giant's treatment plan. After a brief recuperation Kennedy is due to begin targeted radiation at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston followed by chemotherapy treatment.
Kennedy, 76, is the last surviving brother of assassinated President John F. Kennedy.
He reportedly told his wife, Victoria, afterward: "I feel like a million bucks. I think I'll do that again tomorrow," said the senator's office, cited by US media.
The liberal lion of the Senate said he was eyeing an eventual return to Capitol Hill and to campaigning for Obama, whom he endorsed earlier this year.
"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," the senator said.
Kennedy was rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston on May 17 after suffering a seizure at his family's compound in Hyannis Port on Cape Cod.
Following results from a biopsy, doctors diagnosed Kennedy with a malignant glioma in the left parietal lobe, an area of the brain which controls speech, among other functions.
Doctors have not publicly offered a prognosis for Kennedy. But the US National Cancer Institute has said the outlook for such a diagnosis is poor, with average life expectancy depending on the stage of the tumor, from a few months to up to five years.
Gliomas often begin with genetic changes in the brain's glial cells -- cells which support neurological activity -- although the source of such changes remains a mystery, according to experts.
A key challenge for doctors is removing such tumors without harming healthy brain tissue.
About 13,000 Americans die annually from malignant tumors in the brain or spinal cord, comprising 2.2 percent of all cancer-linked deaths, according to the American Cancer Society. Survival has improved over the past decade due in part to new drugs.
The tumors kills 50 percent of patients during the first year after diagnosis and few live beyond three years. Without treatment the tumor grows back between two to three months after being surgically removed.
The brain tumor diagnosis sent shockwaves through the US Congress, where Kennedy has been a dominant figure for nearly half a century.
He is a champion of causes such as health care, education, workers rights and immigration reform.
While he has been a fierce critic of President George W. Bush, he has also reached out to work with Republicans.
Kennedy, whose eighth term in the Senate expires in 2012, once seemed destined for the White House.
But his career was rocked by the death of a young woman, Mary Jo Kopechne, in his car late one night in 1969 after he drove off a bridge near Chappaquiddick island.
He did run for president in 1980 against incumbent Jimmy Carter. Kennedy lost the Democratic nomination but politically damaged Carter, who lost the general election to Republican Ronald Reagan.
Kennedy's latest health crisis came six months after he had surgery to clear a blockage in a major neck artery, a common procedure to prevent a stroke.
His brother, late president John F. Kennedy Jr. was shot and killed in 1963, and brother Robert Kennedy was shot dead while campaigning for the presidency in 1968.
Ted is the youngest of nine children in the famed Kennedy clan. His eldest brother Joseph died in a plane crash during World War II.
Copyright © 2008 Agence France Presse
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kennedy to Have Surgery
By MIKE BAKER, Associated Press Writer
25 minutes ago
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was set to undergo surgery Monday at Duke University Medical Center for his cancerous brain tumor and then faces chemotherapy and radiation treatment, his office said.
The 76-year-old senator was diagnosed last month with a malignant glioma, an especially lethal type of brain tumor. A statement from the Massachusetts Democrat's office said the surgery would take place on Monday morning in Durham, N.C., by one of the nation's top neurosurgeons, Dr. Allan Friedman, followed by chemotherapy and radiation.
Anthony Coley, a Kennedy spokesman, said the surgery is scheduled to begin around 9 a.m. and expected to last about six hours. He expects to remain at the North Carolina facility for one week to recuperate and then will begin further treatments at Massachusetts General Hospital and start chemotherapy.
"I am deeply grateful to the people of Massachusetts and to my friends, colleagues and so many others across the country and around the world who have expressed their support and good wishes as I tackle this new and unexpected health challenge," Kennedy said in the statement. "I am humbled by the outpouring and am strengthened by your prayers and kindness."
Kennedy said that over the past few days he and his wife, Vicki, "along with my outstanding team of doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital, have consulted with experts from around the country and have decided that the best course of action for my brain tumor is targeted surgery followed by chemotherapy and radiation."
Kennedy said he selected a team of neuro-oncologists from Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital and Duke University Medical Center.
The hospital at Duke is next on the north side of the campus of the elite private college in Durham, about 30 minutes west of the state capital in Raleigh. Aside from several television trucks parked outside, there was little sign that a notable patient was inside.
Friedman is "one of the thought leaders" and a giant in the field of neuro-oncology, said Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, speaking from Chicago, where more than 30,000 cancer specialists are attending an American Society of Clinical Oncology conference.
Friedman is chief of the division of neurosurgery in the surgical department at Duke and also co-director of the neuro-oncology department there. His clinical interests are brain tumors, skull-based tumors, peripheral nerve surgery, pituitary tumors and cerebrovascular disaster, according to his resume on the medical center's Web site.
After his treatment, Kennedy said, "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 has endorsed Obama, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Kennedy was hospitalized May 17 at Massachusetts General Hospital after undergoing a seizure at his home on Cape Cod. Doctors later announced that he had a malignant glioma in his left parietal lobe, a brain region that governs sensation but also plays some role in movement and language. A malignant glioma is the worst kind of brain cancer.
Malignant gliomas are diagnosed in about 9,000 Americans a year. In general, half of all patients die within a year. The brain tumor research center at Duke is conducting several clinical trials in malignant glioma.
Kennedy likely will receive the chemotherapy drug Temodar during and after radiation, said Brawley. The pivotal study showing the drug's value for brain tumors was presented three years ago at the clinical oncology conference. Kennedy also may be treated with Avastin, a newer targeted drug to deprive the tumor of its blood supply, though this is still experimental at this stage of treatment.
When operating, "the surgeon usually does as much as possible within the bounds of safety. We do not want to do neurological damage in an effort to remove as much of the tumor as possible," said Dr. Mark Gilbert, a brain tumor expert at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
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.
Kennedy has a history of seeking top medical care available for his family. He pulled daughter Kara out of Johns Hopkins and brought her to a Boston hospital when he was not satisfied with the initial course of treatment she was getting for lung cancer five years ago.
In addition to his congressional health insurance plan, which is often described as one of the most generous in the country, Kennedy's wealth gives him the means to afford the best possible health care. The senator is known to reach into his own pocket and pay supplemental salary to staffers who otherwise might be tempted to leave his office for better paying jobs.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080602/ap_on_go_co/kennedy_cancer&printer=1;_ylt=AhLqFN67rczaeS.IQSfIptWMwfIE
Associated Press reporter Glen Johnson contributed to this report from Boston and AP reporter Marilynn Marchione contributed from Chicago.
Copyright © 2008 The Associated
No comments:
Post a Comment