+0000c31obeTue, 20 May 2008 18:05:18 +0000 5, 2006...10:00PMay

SEN. TED KENNEDY DIAGNOSED WITH MALIGNANT BRAIN TUMOR

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SENATOR KENNEDY HAS MALIGNANT BRAIN TUMOR
 
 
 
 

David Scull for The New York Times
Senator Edward M. Kennedy addressed a rally for immigrant rights on the National Mall in Washington in 2006. More Photos >
 
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By JOHN SULLIVAN
Published: May 20, 2008
 
 
Senator Edward M. Kennedy has a malignant tumor in his brain, his doctors said Tuesday.

Alex Wong/Getty Images
Edward M. Kennedy, 76, has been in the Senate since 1962. More Photos »
 
 
May 17, 2008    
 
Brendan Smialowski for The New York Times
Senator Edward M. Kennedy with Senator Barack Obama at a campaign rally at American University in Washington on Jan. 28. More Photos >
 
 
Tests performed over the weekend at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston indicated that Mr. Kennedy, 76, has a type of cancer known as a malignant glioma in the left parietal lobe, the upper left portion of his brain. Mr. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, suffered a seizure on Saturday in Cape Cod and was airlifted to the hospital for treatment.
 
The doctors said on Tuesday that the senator was “in overall good condition,” had been walking around the hospital, and had suffered no more seizures since Saturday.
“The usual course of treatment includes combinations of various forms of radiation and chemotherapy,” Dr. Lee Schwamm, the vice chairman of neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Dr. Larry Ronan, a primary care physician at the hospital, said in a statement issued Tuesday afternoon.
 
The National Cancer Institute says that malignant glioma is the most common form of brain cancer, accounting for about 9,000 cases diagnosed each year in the United States. The prognosis depends on the severity of the tumor, although the institute’s Web site says it is generally poor.
 
Mr. Kennedy was first elected to the Senate in 1962, when his older brother John F. Kennedy was president, and is serving his eighth term. He is been in the senate longer than any current senator except Robert C. Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia.
 
News of the diagnosis was greeted by “stunned silence” at a weekly lunch conference for Senate Democrats, said Senator Ben Nelson, of Nebraska. Mr. Nelson said that Senator John Kerry, of Massachusetts, who had spoken with Mr. Kennedy, reported that “Senator Kennedy is quite optimistic.” Senator John Warner, of Virginia, said a similar announcement had been made in the Republicans’ weekly meeting and that those in attendance interrupted their business to say a prayer for Senator Kennedy.
 
“Ted Kennedy has spent his life caring for those in need,” said Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate. “Now it’s time for those who love Ted and his family to care for them and join in prayer to give them strength.”
 
Senator Kennedy fell ill at his family’s compound in Hyannis Port, Mass., on Saturday morning and was taken to Cape Cod Hospital. From there, he was flown by helicopter to Massachusetts General. The senator had undergone surgery at Massachusetts General in October to correct a constriction of his left carotid artery. He had already been taking medication to control blood pressure and cholesterol.
 
Senator Kennedy, who is known for championing his party’s positions on civil rights, health care and labor, endorsed Senator Barack Obama, of Illinois, for president in January. Since then, Mr. Kennedy has actively campaigned for Mr. Obama and has made appearances in crucial primary states.
 
In an interview with CNN on Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Obama called Mr. Kennedy “a great model of what a senator can and should be.”
 
“I expect he is going to fight as hard as he can,” he said.
 
President Bush, in a statement, called Mr. Kennedy “a man of tremendous courage, remarkable strength, and powerful spirit.”
 
Dr. John Golfinos, an associate professor of neurosurgery at the New York University Cancer Institute, said malignant glioma could be difficult to beat.
 
“Typically, the outlook is not that great for this disease,” said Dr. Golfinos.
 
Dr. Golfinos said he could not speak about Senator Kennedy’s case specifically, but in general, a patient’s prognosis depends on a number of factors, including age and a general description known as performance status. He said there is no common screening test to discover the presence of such a tumor, and that for most people who develop one, no cause is ever identified.
 
Although a large number of promising treatments have been developed in recent years, Dr. Golfinos said the long-term survival rates have not improved greatly so far.
 
“It is still a difficult one, so the prognosis has not improved that much,” he said.
 
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TUMOR’S LOCATION AND SIZE DETERMINES TREATMENT
 
 
 

Doug Mills/The New York Times
Senator Edward M. Kennedy left a news conference about the minimum wage bill in 2007.
 
By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN, M.D.
Published: May 20, 2008
 
 
The malignant tumor that Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s doctors said he has is known as a glioma, a cancer that arises in the brain.

Gliomas are categorized by subtypes and by numerical gradation. The prognosis depends in part on details like type, size and gradation — information that was not disclosed by Massachusetts General Hospital, where Mr. Kennedy, 76, is a patient.
 
The hospital, which is in Boston, said only that the diagnosis was made by removing a small piece of the cancer in a biopsy after a series of tests. Statistically, the most common type of glioma is known as an astrocytoma.
 
The hospital said that the tumor is in the parietal area of the brain’s left side. The parietal region is in the upper portion of the brain, above the ear.
 
The cancer was responsible for the seizure that Mr. Kennedy suffered on the morning of May 17. He has suffered no further seizures, is now in “good spirits and full of energy,” and up and walking around, the hospital said.
 
Symptoms and signs of a brain tumor often vary according to its location. Mr. Kennedy’s doctors have not said whether he has suffered other symptoms that might be related to a brain tumor.
 
In general, gliomas are surgically removed and then treated with radiation and chemotherapy. Precisely how Mr. Kennedy’s glioma will be treated depends on further tests, the hospital said, but it did not mention a surgical option in his case.
 
The prognosis of a cancerous brain tumor depends on several factors. One is its location within the brain tissue. Another is how easily a neurosurgeon can remove the tumor. In general, prognosis is better for patients under age 45.
 
Depending on the type of glioma and the course of treatment that Mr. Kennedy chooses, the prognosis can range from 50 percent at one year to 40 percent at 10 years.
 
According to the American Cancer Society, about 13,070 people in the United States will die from brain and nervous system cancers this year. Over all, 21,810 people will develop them.
 
 
 
(Articles courtesy of The New York Times:  http://www.nytimes.com )

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