Senator Ted Kennedy Undergoing Surgery for Malignant Brain Tumor at Duke Medical Center

The following managed to be a rather well kept secret. Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy is presently undergoing surgery at Duke University Medical Center for his previously diagnosed malignant brain tumor.

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 he would be operated on Monday morning in Durham, N.C., by Dr. Allan Friedman, followed by chemotherapy and radiation. Anthony Coley, a Kennedy spokesman, said the surgery is expected to begin around 9 a.m. It is expected to last about six hours.

Kennedy to have brain surgery Monday

UPDATE I: Kennedy brain surgery ‘successful’

DURHAM, North Carolina (CNN) — An operation to remove a malignant tumor from Sen. Edward Kennedy’s brain was successful, and the Democrat should suffer no permanent damage from the procedure, his surgeon reported Monday.

One wonders how evasive the surgery really was. Having known many who have had brain surgery for malignant tumors, usually the surgery is much more evasive to be able to remove malignant tumors.

“Sen. Kennedy was awake during the resection, and should therefore experience no permanent neurological effects from the surgery.”

Friedman called the resection “just the first step” in Kennedy’s treatment plan, which is to include radiation and chemotherapy, to be carried out at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Ted Kennedy: ‘I feel like a million bucks’