Senator Edward Kennedy’s Cancerous Brain Tumor

Since I’ve been online checking up on Sen. Edward Kennedy’s status, I thought I’d give some summarized data on his diagnosis.

A cancerous brain tumor caused the seizure Sen. Edward M. Kennedy suffered over the weekend, doctors said Tuesday in a grim diagnosis for one of American politics’ most enduring figures.

• Doctors for the Massachusetts Democrat say tests conducted after Kennedy suffered a seizure this weekend show a tumor in his left parietal lobe. Preliminary results from a biopsy of the brain identified the cause of the seizure as a malignant glioma.

• His treatment will be decided after more tests but the usual course includes combinations of radiation and chemotherapy.

• He remains in good spirits and full of energy,” they said.

• Kennedy’s wife and children have been with him each day but have made no public statements.

• Malignant gliomas are a type of brain cancer diagnosed in about 9,000 Americans a year — and the most common type among adults. It’s a starting diagnosis: How well patients fare depends on what specific tumor type is determined by further testing.

Average survival can range from less than a year for very advanced and aggressive types — such as glioblastomas — or to about five years for different types that are slower growing.

• Kennedy, the second-longest serving member of the Senate and a dominant figure in national Democratic Party politics, was elected in 1962, filling out the term won by his brother, John F. Kennedy.

AP

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