U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy survived a 3 1/2-hour brain surgery Monday, and his doctor said the operation "was successful and accomplished our goals."
The 76-year-old senator underwent the surgery to remove a malignant brain tumor at Duke University's Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina and would remain at Duke recuperating from the surgery for about a week.
After the surgery, Kennedy told his wife, Vicki, "I feel like a million bucks," according to the senator's aid.
Kennedy's tumor in the left parietal lobe was very close to centers of the brain that control motor function, speech and memory, and the surgery perhaps could paralyze the patient's right side as well. 
U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) appears on "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos to discuss immigration reform in Washington June 24, 2007. But Friedman, Duke's chief of neurosurgery, said Kennedy was awake throughout the entire procedure and should experience no permanent neurological effects from the surgery.
Kennedy was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor called a glioma, a type of tumor that usually kills within three years, after suffering a seizure on May 17 at his home on Cape Cod.
In a statement issued shortly before his surgery, Kennedy expressed confidence he would soon be back.
"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," he said.
Median survival for glioma is 12 to 15 months, but the range is wide, said Dr. Mark Gilbert, a brain tumor expert at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
So "after a brief recuperation, he will begin targeted radiation at Massachusetts General Hospital and chemotherapy treatment," Friedman said.
Source:Xinhua
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