One week after successfully undergoing surgery for a malignant brain tumor at the Duke University Medical Center, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., left campus Monday for his home in Cape Cod.
"He will continue to recuperate at home before starting the next phase of his treatment," Kennedy's aides said in a statement. "He is thankful for the extraordinary care of the doctors and nurses at Duke, and also for the continued prayers and well wishes from the people of Massachusetts and all over the country."
Dr. Allan Friedman, Guy L. Odom professor of neurological surgery and neurosurgeon-in-chief at Duke Hospital, performed Kennedy's operation. Friedman is one of the world's top tumor and vascular surgeons and has devoted much of his career to neuro-oncology. He has also successfully operated on Reynolds Price, Trinity '55 and James B. Duke professor of English, to remove a malignant spinal tumor in 1984.
Kennedy was diagnosed with malignant glioma, the most common form of brain cancer, about three weeks ago and was initially treated at Massachusetts General Hospital. But the senator has a reputation for aggressively seeking the best medical care, and he traveled to Duke for the risky operation, possibly lured by the international repute of the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center-as well as its chair, Friedman.
Kennedy spent one week recovering from the operation at DUMC, apparently with no complications.
The day after the operation, Kennedy was walking around the hallways, visiting with family and following the news, according to a statement released by his office Tuesday.
The senator has remained optimistic following his diagnosis, but the prognosis
for those with the tumor is usually grim. Even with the most ambitious course
of treatment, patients typically live only about a year, Dr. Eugene Flamm, chairman of the department of neurosurgery at Montefiore Medical Center and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, told The New York Times. Flamm is not involved in the senator's care.
Surgery is just the first step in an aggressive treatment plan, Dr. Mark Gilbert, a neuro-oncologist at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston who has
not treated Kennedy, told the Boston Globe. Kennedy, 76, will return to Massachusetts General Hospital for targeted radiation aimed at the bed of the tumor and chemotherapy treatment to knock out stray cancer cells.
"Sen. Edward Kennedy is making an excellent recovery from his brain surgery," Friedman said in a statement released Monday. "The senator and his wife, Vicki, are wonderful people, and I hope you will join me in wishing them the best as they continue their difficult journey to fight this disease. Their courageous and positive attitude is a lesson for us all."
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