Reagan ready for surgery

Press, 6 January 1987, Page 8

Reagan ready for surgery

NZPA-Reuter Washington

President Ronald Reagan, buoyed by an optimistic report on his latest post-cancer surgery check-up, will undergo prostate surgery today that doctors describe as quite common and relatively risk-free.

Final results of the check-up await laboratory analysis of four small polyps removed from Mr Reagan’s colon.

The President entered a naval hospital in Bethesda, . Maryland, on Sunday for an expected three to four-day stay. The White House physician, Dr John Hutton, said the polyp growths were similar to those found during previous examinations and were “benignappearing.” The polyps “show no evidence of a recurrence of the cancer found in July, 1985,” Dr Hutton said.

Mr Reagan, at 75 the oldest president in United States history, was given a better than 50 per cent chance of full recovery by his doctors after he underwent surgery 18 months ago to remove a malignant tumour from his colon.

During today’s operation, which will take place under local anesthetic and last 30 to 40 minutes, a team of doctors from Minnesota’s worldacclaimed Mayo Clinic plan to cut away pieces of Mr Reagan’s enlarged prostate gland in order to alleviate urinary discomfort.

The operation, is considered almost routine. Mr Reagan had a similar one in 1967. “One man in five requires it during his lifetime. One in five who undergoes it requires a repeat,” said Dr Roger Wiederhorn, a Washington urologist.