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Kennedys Death Senator Edward Kennedy, a legendary political figure in the United States, died on Tuesday after a year long battle with malignant glioma, the most common type of brain cancer among adults. Although he had the most up-to-date treatments - surgery at Duke University Medical Center, chemotherapy and radiation - he was not able to survive the disease. Doctors still dont know what causes brain tumors and the National Cancer Institute says the outlook for patients with malignant gliomas is poor. Kennedy had whats called a craniotomy, which involves opening the skull to expose the surface of the brain. Surgeons then determine the exact location of the tumor, often with the help of an MRI or CT scan. During part of the procedure, patients can be brought back to consciousness. That helps the doctors avoid cutting in areas that control speech. The brain will not feel any pain, so you can stimulate while the patient is awake and test the motor function, the speech functions while the patient is awake which allows very accurate determination of where these eloquent areas of the brain are, Dr. Caputy explains. Doctors caution that even with treatment, these aggressive tumors always come back. Whats not known is when A.Senator Edward Kennedy died right after he had the tumor. C.Senator Edward Kennedy died because he didnt get up-to-date treatment. | 
