John McCain releases medical records

John McCain's campaign has just posted an overview of his medical condition, and the doctors conclude there is "no medical reason or problems that would preclude Sen. McCain from fulfilling all the duties and obligations of president of the United States."

We'll add details in a bit, and there's a media conference call coming up in which the report will be discussed.

UPDATE: The overview details McCain's known problems with melanoma, but the report gives him a clean bill of health on that front. No current melanomas, and he gets checked every three or four months. The report also answers the question of why it seems the side of his face juts out to the left: "This is a result of an absence of soft tissue on the face in front of his ear that makes the masseter (the chewing muscle) over the jaw appear more prominent.  To be clear, the swelling is not due to any evidence of cancer."

The senator also has recurring trouble with kidney stones, and had "4 bladder stones which were fragmented with laser in August 2001 and at the same time some benign enlarged prostate tissue was surgically removed."  Heart's fine -- it notes he  did a Grand Canyon rim-to-rim hike two years ago with no problems.

-- Scott Martelle

Comments

[independent voter 15]

John McCain continues to have a significant risk of recurrence of his melanoma. What is not mentioned in the main article is that there is currently NO EFFECTIVE TREATMENT for the disease. Appearing "disease-free" on examination of the skin doesn't detect occult metastatic disease. His cancer history is more significant than his age.

http://content.nejm.org/content/vol351/issue10/images/large/11f2.jpeg

[Tannim]

So he can release his medical records but not his birth certificate?

Oh, yeah, that shows he has a major impediment to being President, the one called being born in Panama...