Edward Kennedy Scheduled for Brain Surgery Today

CNN reports the Senator Edward Kennedy will undergo brain surgery today to remove a malignant growth in Kennedy's left parietal lobe:

Sen. Edward Kennedy announced Monday he will undergo surgery to treat a malignant brain tumor.

"Over the past several days, Vicki and I, along with my outstanding team of doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital, have consulted with experts from around the country and have decided that the best course of action for my brain tumor is targeted surgery followed by chemotherapy and radiation," the senator said in a statement.

"This morning, I will be undergoing surgery with Dr. Allan Friedman at Duke University Medical Center and expect to remain there to recuperate for approximately one week.

"Shortly thereafter, I will start radiation treatments at Massachusetts General Hospital and begin chemotherapy. After completing treatment, I look forward to returning to the United States Senate and to doing everything I can to help elect Barack Obama as our next president."

Duke University Medical Center is in Durham, North Carolina.

Friedman is an internationally recognized tumor and vascular neurosurgeon, according to the Duke medical center Web site. He is responsible for over 90 percent of all tumor removals and biopsies conducted at Duke, the Web site says.

Aides said Kennedy would be going into surgery around 9 a.m. ET and the surgery would last four to six hours.

Treatment will include surgery and highly focused radiation and chemotherapy, they said.

The 76-year-old Democrat, who has represented Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate since his election in 1962, suffered a seizure on May 17 while walking two of his dogs at his home in Hyannisport, Massachusetts.

Kennedy's doctors said a few days later that preliminary results from a brain biopsy showed that a tumor in the left parietal lobe was responsible for the seizure.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent, who is also a neurosurgeon, said a tumor in that area of the brain could affect the senator's ability to speak and understand speech, as well as the strength on the right side of his body.

Gupta said such tumors don't usually metastasize or spread to other parts of the body.

"What they do do -- and I think that's a concern to people -- is that they grow, and sometimes they invade other normal parts of the brain. That is the big concern here," he said.

My thoughts and prayers got out to the Kennedy family