Tumor to be removed

According to medical experts the surgery on College President James Freedman Monday will reveal one of three types of tumors. None of Freedman's personal doctors could be reached to comment specifically about his condition but several urologists familiar with testicular tumors described the implications of discovering a tumor and the possible methods of treatment. Dr. David Rudnick, a resident specializing in urological surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, where Freedman will be treated, said a patient with a testicular tumor undergoes a standard procedure to remove the tumor and identify its type. The tumor may be harmless or may be evidence of one of two different types of cancer. A testicular tumor "is an abnormal growth within the testicle generally found by the patient as a lump," said Dr. Ann Gormley, a urologist at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Once the tumor is removed, Rudnick said pathologists will conduct tests to determine whether it is cancerous. If the tumor is benign - classified as harmless - a patient can expect full recovery, Rudnick said. But Rudnick and other doctors said most testicular tumors are malignant. A cancerous tumor could mean a patient is suffering from testicular cancer, a disease of the reproductive cells.