Senator Kennedy Has Neck Surgery
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
BOSTON — Senator Kennedy underwent surgery today to repair a partially blocked artery in his neck, which was discovered during an examination of a decades-old back injury.
Mr. Kennedy, 75, underwent the hourlong procedure on his left carotid artery — a major supplier of blood to the neck and head — at Massachusetts General Hospital, his office announced.
The operation, performed by Dr. Richard Cambria, the hospital’s chief of vascular surgery, was completed without complications, and the Massachusetts Democrat was expected to be released in several days, his Washington office said in a statement.
A carotid endarterectomy, the formal name for the operation, is performed on more than 180,000 people a year to prevent a stroke.
