Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., may be sidelined longer than originally expected following surgery he had Friday to remove a blood clot, the New York Times reported Sunday.
McCain, 80, had a two-inch blood clot removed from above his left eye during a "minimally invasive craniotomy with an eyebrow incision" in Phoenix at the Mayo Clinic Hospital, "following a routine annual physical."
His surgery prompted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to delay a vote on the healthcare bill as support for the legislation continues to waver.
A statement from McCain's office said he would recover in Arizona this week, but neurosurgeons interviewed by the Times said that time frame could be longer. The recovery from a craniotomy is "usually a few weeks," said Dr. Nrupen Baxi, an assistant professor of neurosurgery at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City.
Baxi said a blood clot like McCain’s is usually discovered "when patients have symptoms, whether it's a seizure or headaches or weakness or speech difficulties," and not just through a routine physical.
But McCain and his doctors have not revealed the cause.
A likely diagnosis is a subdural hematoma, said Dr. David J. Langer, the chairman of neurosurgery at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York.
"You would hope it's a subdural, a relatively benign process. It's common in the elderly, especially if they're on blood thinners," he said. "It can occur from relatively minor head injuries. The elderly brain loses volume, and as it retracts, the bridging veins from the brain to the dura are under increasing tension, and minor trauma can cause them to ooze or leak."
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