Published: May 21, 2008 01:50 pm         

Sen. Kennedy with family as he learns of brain tumor

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. — When Dr. Santos Shetty heard Sen. Edward Kennedy suffered a seizure over the weekend, his first thought was "I wonder if he has a brain tumor?"



Shetty's suspicions were confirmed Tuesday when Kennedy's doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston said he had a malignant glioma in the left parietal lobe, a part of the brain that helps govern sensation, movement and language.



The 76-year-old senator and sole surviving son of America's most storied political family suffered the seizure at the family compound in Hyannisport on Saturday.



Kennedy was with family at the hospital Tuesday as the diagnosis was announced.



"Obviously, it's tough news for any son to hear," said Robin Costello, a spokeswoman for one of Kennedy's sons, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I. "He's comforted by the fact that his dad is such a fighter, and if anyone can get through something as challenging as this, it would be his father."



At Caritas Holy Family Hospital in Methuen, doctors treat approximately 30 similar brain tumors per year, said Shetty, the medical director of radiation oncology at the hospital.



"The best result we see is when a surgeon can actually go in and remove the tumor," Shetty said.



Major advances in drugs, technology and treatment have radically improved in recent years. Brain tumors can also be treated with stereotactic radiosurgery — a special radiation beam that "very precisely" administers a high dose of radiation to the tumor, Shetty said.



"He has had no further seizures, remains in good overall condition and is up and walking around the hospital," said a joint statement by Dr. Lee Schwamm, vice chairman of the Department of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Dr. Larry Ronan, Kennedy's primary care physician.



Some outside experts gave him no more than three years — and perhaps far less.



"As a general rule, at 76, without the ability to do a surgical resection, as kind of a ballpark figure you're probably looking at a survival of less than a year," Dr. Keith Black, chairman of neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, told The Associated Press.



The diagnosis shocked the state which he has represented since 1962 after his brother John F. Kennedy left the Senate upon his election to the presidency.



State Rep. Harriett Stanley, D-West Newbury, a brain tumor survivor herself, described the news as "eerie."



"There's a real feeling of 'deja vu' today," Stanley said. Seven years ago this month, during an MRI at Mass General, doctors found a tumor on the back, right side of Stanley's brain.



"Mine was benign while his is malignant, which is significantly different," Stanley said. "It's not news that anyone wants to hear in their lifetime."



She said size and location of a brain tumor are critical for survival. And how ready physically and mentally you are to fight is extremely important. Kennedy, she said, is "battle tested."



Approximately 16,000 brain tumors are diagnosed annually in the United States. As humans age, they are at greater risk for developing them.



A seizure is a major brain tumor symptom. Other signs include memory loss, paralysis, headaches, nausea and vomiting. The brain is made up of a series of centers that control all body functions.



"A tumor can start in any part of the brain," Shetty said.



Surgery, followed by chemotherapy and radiation, are successful at knocking down brain tumors. However, tumors are sometimes located so deeply in the brain that surgery is impossible.



Kennedy, dressed in a gray sweater and dark slacks, joked and laughed with family members as he sat at a table in a family room at the hospital where he allowed photographs to be taken.



Kennedy's wife since 1992, Vicki, and his five children and stepchildren have been at his bedside.



Jill Harmacinski writes for The Eagle-Tribune in North Andover, Mass. J.J. Huggins contributed to this report. Material from the Associated Press was used.