McCain Will Undergo Surgery But Prognosis Hopeful

— -- Former presidential candidate Sen. John McCain has announced that he will undergosurgery to treat his skin cancer, and says his doctors are optimistic about his prognosis.

ABCNEWS.comAug. 18— Sen. John McCain announced today that he will undergo surgery for skin cancer Saturday, but is optimistic about his prognosis.

“I am very confident that everything is going to be just fine,” said McCain, a Republican from Arizona who made a spirited challenge for the Republican presididential nomination before losing out to Texas Gov. George W. Bush. “It’s a challenge, but it happens.”

McCain has been diagnosed with a recurrence of melanoma, potentially the most dangerous form of skin cancer.

The senator and his wife Cindy met with his doctors for about 3 1/2 hours today at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz., to discuss the seriousness of his skin cancer and to chartthe best course of action against the malignancy.

McCain told reporters at an afternoon press conference that further surgery “would depend on the outcome of the operation itself,” but added, “They’re very confident they can take care of it with this operation.”

A Battery of Tests

McCain had blood tests, an electrocardiogram, a chest X-ray, a CT scan and an echocardiogram on Thursday, his office said.

The cancer was detected on his left arm and left temple. McCain had a melanoma mole removed from his shoulder in 1993.

Surgery is the traditional treatment for melanoma.

Doctors speaking to ABCNEWS.com, who were unfamiliar with the specifics of McCain’s most recent medical results, said his prognosis depends on whether the melanoma is new, how deep it is and how far it has spread.

“The odds are these are superficial lesions or very thin melanomas,” said Dr. David Polsky, associate director of the pigmented lesion clinic at New York University Medical Center.“If there is no evidence that melanoma has invaded [more deeply], surgery is considered to be virtually curative.”

Doctors in such cases recommend removal of entire skin area surrounding the malignancy.

More Serious, If …

If, however, the melanoma is new and has spread deep, or is a recurrence of the original melanoma that has spread inside his body, the prognosis for McCain, 63, would not be as good. Treatment for this scenario would include taking a biopsy of the lymph nodes to see if the cancer had spread to the nodes, immunotherapy, radiation and chemotherapy.

In 2000, 47,700 people will be diagnosed with melanoma and 7,700 will die, according the American Cancer Society.

Republican officials said the Arizona senator had scrubbed10 or 12 other planned appearances over the next few weeks.

McCain, however, still plans to be in Ohio on Sunday tocampaign for fellow Republican Sen. Mike DeWine.

The two are to attend private fund-raisers in Springfield,Cincinnati and Dayton and then appear together at Cleveland BrownsStadium, the DeWine campaign said Wednesday night.

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Similar to 1993

During his presidential campaign, when he gave eventual GOP nominee George W. Bush a stiff challenge, McCain released hundreds of pages of medical records that detailed the lingering effects ofinjuries suffered in a Vietnam prisoner of war camp. The recordsalso showed that in December 1993, McCain had a cancerous moleremoved from his shoulder that proved to be melanoma.

Dr. John Eckstein, McCain’s longtime personal physician in Arizona,said at the time that the senator was cured of the cancer.

The records said McCain regularly has suspicious skin lesions ormoles removed — often basal cell carcinoma, the least aggressiveand most common type of skin cancer.

McCain left the Republican National Convention in Philadelphiaon Aug. 2 to return to Washington, and had a spot of skin on his forehead removed at Bethesda Naval Hospital, Harris said at the time.

Sun Exposure May Be Culprit

Melanoma is the most lethal form of skin cancer. When discoveredearly, it is highly curable. But it is a very aggressive kind ofcancer — tumors can double in size every month — and it can spreadquickly to other parts of the body.

In addition, once melanoma returns in a patient already treated,treatment is more difficult. Those patients often turn to clinicaltrials of experimental therapies such as the new attempt at amelanoma vaccine that has helped a handful of people who weren’texpected to live six months to instead see their tumorsdramatically shrink.

Michael Ambrose, a POW center doctor made available by theMcCain campaign in December 1999, said the type of cancer McCainsuffered before is usually due to sun exposure from years ago. Hesaid McCain and his fellow prisoners were kept in the Vietnamesesun for long periods, though it is impossible to link the cancer tohis POW exposure.

McCain, who turns 64 on Aug. 29, has served Arizona in Congresssince 1982.