US Senator Edward Kennedy is understood to be walking around and experiencing no complications after undergoing brain cancer surgery.
Mr Kennedy underwent the procedure at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina.
Mr Kennedy, 76, one of the most senior Democrats in the US Senate and the last surviving brother of assassinated President John F Kennedy, will remain at the Duke centre for about a week before being discharged to recuperate in his Cape Cod home.
Mr Kennedy underwent the delicate three-and-a-half hour surgery to treat a malignant glioma in the left parietal lobe, an area of the brain which controls speech, among other functions.
After a brief recuperation he is due to begin targeted radiation at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston followed by chemotherapy treatment.
Doctors have not publicly offered a prognosis for Mr Kennedy.
But the US National Cancer Institute has said the outlook for such a diagnosis is poor, with average life expectancy depending on the stage of the tumor, from a few months to up to five years.
