CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta told Anderson Cooper Wednesday night that the brain tumor Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain has does not have a “particular cure.”
Additionally, Gupta says McCain’s tumor is similar to what the late Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy had when the Senate was debating Obamacare in 2010.
“This is a glioblastoma. Again, that’s what that showed. Some people may have heard this term before. But glioblastoma is the same type of tumor that Senator Kennedy had several years ago, that Beau Biden had, you know, last year that we’ve heard about. It is an aggressive type of brain cancer,” Gupta said.
He went on to say, “So, Senator McCain and his family are just now dealing with this news and trying to decide the next steps in terms of treatment, and all of that. But he is at home, Anderson. He was able to go home the next day after surgery. He had a very rapid recovery.”
“The doctors told me that after he woke up from the anesthesia, he was very alert, very sharp, was able to tell you what year it was. He was making jokes with the recovery room staff. But again, this — it takes a few days for these diagnoses to come back because the pathologist actually has to review it and this is what they found, Anderson,” Gupta said.
When asked by Cooper what the next steps could possibly be, Gupta replied, “Well, this is — this is one of those types of tumors that is — it doesn’t have a particular cure. There’s not a type of treatment that you can say is going to likely lead to cure. The types of treatments typically are a combination of chemotherapy and radiation — radiation to that part of his brain.”
Gupta noted that this particular tumor started from the brain as opposed to beginning elsewhere in the body and later spreading to the brain. McCain received well wishes from his colleagues in Congress when the news surfaced about his health Wednesday night.