skip to main content

Kennedy leaves hospital after tests

Ted Kennedy - Leaves hospital
Ted Kennedy - Leaves hospital

US Senator Ted Kennedy has left hospital ahead of schedule following tests which diagnosed a malignant brain tumour.

The 76-year-old Democrat was admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston on Saturday after suffering a seizure at the Kennedy family compound in Hyannisport.

The diagnosis for the Democratic veteran, the last surviving brother of assassinated president John F Kennedy, sent shockwaves through Congress, where he has been a dominant figure for nearly half a century.

'Preliminary results from a biopsy of the brain identified the cause of the seizure as a malignant glioma in the left parietal lobe,' doctors said in a statement.

Today the hospital said Mr Kennedy had recovered remarkably quickly and therefore would be released from the hospital ahead of schedule.

Doctors said that Mr Kennedy was in a comatose state when he first arrived at the local Cape Cod Hospital after suffering two seizures.