Doctors Quiet About Kennedy’s Operation

Health officials at North Carolina’s Duke University provided virtually no information about the brain operation facing U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy Monday.

Officials at Duke University Medical Center said they refused to confirm any information about the procedure, even whether it was under way, out of consideration for the family, CNN reported.

Kennedy, through a statement, said he would undergo the procedure at the Duke facility, recognized as a leader in brain tumor surgery.

A team of doctors is trying to remove as much of the tumor as possible during the surgery, expected to take about six hours. After recuperating for about a week at the Durham, N.C., hospital, Kennedy will begin a regimen of radiation and chemotherapy at Massachusetts General Hospital, the statement said.

Kennedy said he would wait until all the treatments were ended before returning to Washington.

After completing treatment, I look forward to returning to the United States Senate and to doing everything I can to help elect (Sen.) Barack Obama (D-Ill.) as our next president, he said in the statement.

Kennedy was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in May after he was hospitalized following a seizure.