Senator Kennedy's brain cancer diagnosis

Most of us have heard the sad and shocking news: Senator Ted Kennedy has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor after suffering from a seizure last Saturday. Now a breaking article in TIME, Kennedy's Brain Cancer: How Bad?, asks the very next question on most of our minds. How serious is his brain cancer -- what's his prognosis?

Senator Kennedy has a malignant glioma, the most common type of brain tumor, on his left parietal lobe. Seizure is a first sign in 30 to 40 percent of cases. At the moment, doctors are in the analysis stage to determine both type of glioma and appropriate treatment. Standard glioma therapy involves surgical removal of the tumor first, followed by chemotherapy and radiation. Temodar and Gliadel are two new chemotherapy drugs Kennedy and his doctors may very well consider. Gliadel is a dime-sized wafer containing a cancer-killing drug which surgeons implant along the walls and floor of the cavity the brain tumor once occupied.

I've read plenty of doom and gloom on the Senator's prognosis. Phrases abound such as "experts say such tumors are almost always fatal" and "prognosis is poor." The No Hope message is front and center. But TIME shares another, more positive perspective from Dr. Henry Brem, director of neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital. If Kennedy's tumor is easily removed, he has a good chance of controlling the cancer with chemo and radiation. Brem has patients doing just fine 20 to 30 years after diagnosis and treatment. I hope Senator Kennedy's tumor is entirely operable -- I hope the Senator becomes a brain cancer survivor.