Kennedy’s collapse due to brain tumour

A CANCEROUS brain tumour caused the seizure Senator Edward M Kennedy suffered over the weekend, doctors said on Tuesday in a grim diagnosis for one of the most enduring figures of American politics.

Doctors for the Massachusetts Democrat say tests conducted after Kennedy suffered a seizure this weekend show a tumour in his left parietal lobe.

Preliminary results from a biopsy of the brain identified the cause of the seizure as a malignant glioma — which has a survival prognosis from less than a year to about five years.

His treatment will be decided after more tests but the usual course includes combinations of radiation and chemotherapy.

“I’m really sad,” said former senator Bob Kerrey, when told in a senate hallway about Kennedy’s condition.

“He’s the one politician who brings tears to my eyes when he speaks,” he said.

The 76-year-old senator has been hospitalised in Boston since Saturday, when he was airlifted from Cape Cod after a seizure at his home.

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

The doctors said Kennedy will remain in the hospital “for the next couple of days according to routine protocol”.

“He remains in good spirits and full of energy,” they said. Kennedy’s wife and children have been with him each day but have made no public statements.

Malignant gliomas are a type of brain cancer diagnosed in about 9,000 Americans a year and the most common type among adults.

It is a starting diagnosis. How well patients fare depends on what specific tumour type is determined by further testing.

Average survival can range from less than a year for very advanced and aggressive types — such as glioblastomas — or to about five years for different types that are slower-growing.

Kennedy, the second-longest serving member of the Senate and a dominant figure in national Democratic Party politics, was elected in 1962, filling out the term won by his brother, assassinated president John F Kennedy. His eldest brother, Joseph, was killed in a World War II plane crash. Another brother Robert was assassinated in 1968.

Last night, Taoiseach Brian Cowen expressed concern for Senator Kennedy and said the thoughts and prayers of the Irish people were with him.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny expressed his sympathy and wished Senator Kennedy well.