Kennedy Faces Brain Cancer That Can Give Victims Little Time

Senator may confront almost
two calendar months of chemotherapy and radiation treatments in his fight
against a malignant encephalon tumor, docs said.

The Democrat from Bay State may also experience delicate
surgery if the growing can be safely removed, brain-cancer experts
said. Doctors diagnosed the tumor, known as a glioma, after the
76-year-old lawmaker suffered a ictus over the weekend. Now
they must chart treatment against a disease that often gives its
victims small time.

Patients with slow-growing gliomas dwell an norm of about
4 1/2 years, said Susan Chang, a University of California, San
Francisco encephalon malignant neoplastic disease expert and president of the with more than aggressive tumours can dwell about
1 1/2 years, she said. Survival rates driblet with age, according to
the .

''It's A bad disease to have, and it's very bad news for the
Kennedy household and the country,'' said , main of
neurosurgery at Jasper Johns Mark Hopkins University in Baltimore, in a
telephone interview yesterday.

Kennedy's docs at Bay State General Hospital in
Boston called the diagnosing preliminary and provided limited
information yesterday in a statement. They will necessitate to learn
about the type of cells involved in the cancer, the charge per unit at which
they're growing, and where the tumour is located to find how
best to handle it, Chang Jiang said in a telephone set interview.

Brain Surgery

While Kennedy's docs described the prospect of
chemotherapy and radiation treatments in their statement, they
made no reference of encephalon surgery.

Neurosurgeons take gliomas only if they can make so
completely and without a high hazard of harm to encephalon functions. Kennedy's tumour is in the left parietal lobe, the portion of the
brain that controls talking, comprehension and other mental and
visual skills.

''We have got to be able to take all the tumour we see,'' said
Keith Black, president of neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical
Center in Los Angeles in a telephone set interview. ''Taking Fifty or 60
percent out isn't beneficial'' because partially removed tumors
tend to regrow.

If the tumour can be removed, oncologists may implant
biodegradable polymer wafers carrying a drug called carmustine to
attack the malignant neoplastic disease directly. Most of the medical specialty resolves within
three weeks.

Even after surgery, docs usually follow up with radiation
and drugs to kill malignant neoplastic disease cells that may distribute into other areas
of the encephalon and are too little to be cut out.

''That's 1 of the things about glioma,'' Chang Jiang said. ''It
sends out cells into the encompassing normal tissue, and there's
no clear boundary line to the tumor.''

The American Cancer Society estimations that 21,810 people in
the U.S. volition be diagnosed this twelvemonth with malignant encephalon and
spinal cord tumors, and more than than half, or 13,070, will decease from
them. About 77 percentage of malignant encephalon tumours are gliomas.

Monitoring Patients

Doctors supervise patients with magnetic resonance imaging
scans every two calendar months to watch for marks of tumour growing that
might necessitate further surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.

During chemotherapy and radiation treatment, Jack Kennedy may be
able to go back to his Senate duties, Brem said.

''I believe he will travel back to work,'' Brem said. ''I think
he's got enormous military unit of energy and personality to prevail in
his missionary post in life.''

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