College President James Freedman is in good condition after undergoing surgery yesterday morning to remove a testicular tumor, according to Peggy Slazman, a spokeswoman for Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
Mass General's Chief of Urology Scott McDougal '64 performed the surgery, Slazman said. She said the hospital could not release further information about Freedman without his family's authorization. McDougal could not be reached for comment.
College Spokesman Alex Huppe said it will be several days before reports determining whether or not Freedman has cancer return from medical laboratories.
"According to President Freedman's doctors, the surgery went very smoothly this morning," Huppe said. "He is now resting comfortably, and we await more definitive medical information about the President."
Freedman could not comment because he was "resting," a hospital worker said yesterday afternoon.
According to a statement issued by the College last week, Freedman should be released from the hospital today, but Slazman said she was not sure when Freedman would be released.
Freedman discovered the tumor early last week and went to the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center for examination, Huppe said.
John Richardson, a DHMC urologist, conducted the initial examination and recommended surgery because the tumor may be cancerous, according to the statement.
Doctors said the surgery is standard procedure. David Rudnick, a resident specializing in urological surgery at Mass General, said the tumor could either be harmless or one of two types of cancer.
A cancerous tumor could mean the patient has testicular cancer, a disease of the reproductive cells, or a lymphoma, which signals cancer of the immune system.
A lymphoma, the more serious of the two, is usually treated with chemotherapy, Rudnick said.
"If a man is over 50, it is most likely a lymphoma," Rudnick said. Freedman is 58 years old.
The Stuent Activities Office put up several sheets of paper yesterday at The Hopkins Center for the Performing Arts so that students may write get-well wishes to Freedman. Eight students had signed as of 7 p.m.
"Please jot down a get well wish for him," a letter on top of the papers stated. "The campus is putting together a package for him and this list of wishes will be included."
