Brain Surgery: What Kennedy Experienced

June 2, 2008— -- Surgeons at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., report that Sen. Ted Kennedy is doing well after nearly four hours of surgery today to remove a cancerous brain tumor.

For part of the surgery, the 76-year-old Massachusetts senator was awake and conscious, according to a statement issued by Duke University Medical Center.

This dramatic approach is being used by surgeons in cases when a malignant tumor isn't readily accessible on the surface of the brain.

So after cutting into Kennedy's skull, Dr. Allan Friedman — the surgeon wielding the scalpel — had to find a pathway through the brain to get at the tumor. For this he needed the patient's conscious help to avoid damaging brain cells essential for speech, movement and other important functions.

"I am pleased to report that Senator Kennedy's surgery was successful and accomplished our goals," Friedman said in a statement issued shortly after the operation. "Senator Kennedy was awake during the resection, and should therefore experience no permanent neurological effects from the surgery."

"Awake brain mapping surgery to remove a tumor can be very beneficial when indicated," noted Dr. Mitchel Berger, professor and chairman of neurological surgery at the University of California, San Francisco. Berger was one of the neurosurgeons involved in the Friday discussions in Boston about Kennedy's surgery.

Dr. James Chandler, neurosurgeon and director of surgical neuro-oncology at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Ill., said that when it comes to operating on "eloquent" brain — the parts of the brain that when damaged can lead to neurological impairment — the surgery "should be done with the aid of functional imaging, navigational systems and in capable and cooperative patients, awake with mapping of the brain surface. Such strategies optimize the probability of a favorable outcome."

But even now that the surgery is done, Kennedy now faces radiation and chemotherapy intended to help eliminate any remaining fragments of the tumor that the operation may have left behind.