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May 20, 2008

RIH doctor: Prognosis for Kennedy's type of tumor poor

PROVIDENCE -- The prognosis is not good for patients with the type of malignant brain tumor diagnosed in U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, a Rhode Island Hospital neurosurgeon said today.

“The prognosis is usually poor, with a life expectancy of one year or less,” said Dr. Curtis E. Doberstein, interim chief of neurosurgery at the hospital.

Doberstein said he knows of cases with younger patients who have survived several years with similar brain tumors. Kennedy is 76.

Doberstein said the hospital sees about 50 to 70 such tumors a year in Rhode Island, statistically more than one would suspect.

He said Kennedy could be expected to leave the hospital soon and go home, if his treatment is confined to radiation and chemotherapy.

The senator has been hospitalized in Boston since Saturday after suffering a seizure at his Cape Cod home.

-- Journal staff writer Peter Lord

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 4:35 PM | Permalink

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deborah byrne | May 20, 2008 5:16 PM link

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