City Doctor Offers Grim Kennedy Prognosis

By Jim Killackey, The Oklahoman

May 22–An Oklahoma cancer expert said U.S. Sen. Edward M. “Ted” Kennedy probably will live less than a year because he has the most serious form of malignant brain cancer, known as a glioma.

Immediate treatment for Kennedy should consist of surgery followed by radiation and chemotherapy, said Dr. Howard Ozer, head of oncology at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City.

“He’ll be out of commission for six months and he’ll live less than a year,” Ozer said Wednesday. Ozer annually treats several patients with a similar brain tumor. “This kind of tumor is virtually always a fatal condition, and a cure is out of the question,” he said.

Ozer said surgery will be difficult. “These tumors infiltrate the brain like the roots of a tree. The tumor weaves among healthy brain cells, making it very difficult for the neurosurgeon to take it out,” the OU cancer specialist said.

“It is likely that Kennedy will be unable to function normally during his radiation therapy, which is daily, but he may be able to return to Congress after that,” Ozer said.

Surgery can offer better quality of life Although the brain tumor tends to be lethal, surgery can help patients live longer and have a better quality of life in their time remaining, said Dr. Charles Stewart, a radiation oncologist at Saint Francis Hospital in Tulsa.

“A surgical goal is to allow the patients to function as long as possible and do the things they wish to do,” Stewart said.

There are a number of clinical research trials at the OU Health Sciences Center for newly diagnosed patients with a brain tumor like Kennedy’s, Ozer said.

For more information, call the OU Cancer Institute at 271-6822.

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