Campaign '08

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Joe Biden appears to be very healthy, with some routine aging issues, but there's no evidence he's had a brain scan to completely rule out another aneurysm like the one that required emergency surgery 20 years ago.

The Democratic vice presidential candidate's medical records, released to reporters Monday, show no reason for concern about another aneurysm: He has no symptoms, has healthy blood pressure - 120 over 78 - and seems to have healthy heart arteries.

At 65, Biden mostly has minor age-related conditions to contend with: He takes medication for an enlarged prostate, but a biopsy found no prostate cancer. He takes the statin drug Zocor to keep his cholesterol in the healthy range.

His chief health complaint is chronic sinusitis. He underwent sinus surgery in the spring and uses the allergy medicines Claritin-D and Flonase for relief.

The only blip: The Delaware senator did have at least one, possibly two, episodes of an irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation in 2006. Two full cardiac exams that July and November showed no cardiovascular disease, and his doctor at the time implied that the heart fluttering may have been triggered by subsisting on little but coffee during a hectic schedule. Biden was prescribed a precautionary blood-thinning aspirin a day, less caffeine and more exercise.

This type of irregular heartbeat is common, and severe forms can be quite dangerous. But a brief episode that goes away without medical treatment in an otherwise healthy person is of little concern, said American Heart Association President Dr. Tim Gardner.

"Sen. Biden obviously had a complete workup and passed with flying colors," said Gardner after he was read Biden's cardiac test results.

The health of presidential and vice presidential candidates is an issue every election but it's taken on heightened importance this year because of questions surrounding the well-being of Republican presidential nominee John McCain, a three-time melanoma survivor who at age 72 would be the oldest person to take office as president. McCain allowed reporters to view more than 1,000 pages of his own medical records in the spring.

Democrat Barack Obama did not release actual records, though his personal physician wrote a letter attesting to the 47-year-old's good health. GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, 44, has not disclosed any information.

On Monday, the Democratic ticket released 49 pages of Biden's medical records - although crucial information was missing, including what if any recent exams Biden has undergone to ensure no further brain aneurysms. Also missing were the results of a 2001 colonoscopy, and a test of Biden's lung function earlier this year was illegible.

Biden's personal physician never gives media interviews; campaign aides couldn't answer those questions; and neither could a Washington physician, Dr. Matthew Parker, that the campaign provided to interpret the records who has never treated Biden and has donated to the Obama campaign.

Biden talked extensively on the campaign trail earlier this year about his brush with death in 1988, when an aneurysm - a weak balloon-like bulge in an artery supplying blood to his brain - began leaking and required surgery to seal off the dangerous blood flow with a metal clip.

That initial aneurysm, which neurologists call a berry aneurysm for its hanging ball appearance, was fairly large, 1 centimeter. But the initial clipping was successful and Biden made a full recovery. Surgeons also later sealed off a smaller aneurysm discovered at the same time. Complicating his treatment, however, he developed a dangerous blood clot in his lung, common during surgical recuperations. Seven months later he returned to the Senate.

Dr. John Eisold, the Capitol physician who treats Biden, said in a July letter to the senator that he had "recovered fully without continued effects" from those aneurysms.

The likelihood of another aneurysm this many years later is low, said Dr. William O. Bank, a neurointerventional radiologist at Washington Hospital Center who treats up to 150 aneurysms a year.

Today, unlike in the 1980s, it's routine for someone to have a follow-up brain scan about a year after aneurysm treatment, to be sure that another bulge hasn't formed nearby, Bank said. If not, that would end the follow-up checks unless new symptoms appeared. Biden's metal clip likely precludes a scan in an MRI machine, but some doctors prefer a standard angiogram, a minimally invasive X-ray based test.

"If he were my patient, I'd recommend one," Bank told The Associated Press after being read portions of the records.

Still, "the likelihood that McCain would have another melanoma is greater than the risk that Biden would have another aneurysm that would rupture," added Bank, who said he has no affiliation with either party.

Biden also had his gall bladder removed in 2003, during emergency surgery in Florida after experiencing abdominal pain during a weekend vacation in Fort Myers.

McCain's records showed him in generally good health, cancer-free and with a strong heart. He maintains a healthy weight and blood pressure and takes medicine for his cholesterol.

Critics raise lingering questions, however, about his melanoma, the worst kind of skin cancer. His doctors performed extensive surgery that raised no concern that it had begun spreading, giving him a good prognosis. He undergoes regular skin exams.

His running mate Palin is a mother of five who gave birth earlier this year to a son, Trig.

Obama's doctor declared him to be in excellent health, with very good cholesterol levels, an outstanding blood pressure and no sign of heart disease. But he is a smoker who has quit but relapsed several times. He announced in February that he was quitting again with the aid of Nicorette gum. His doctor said only that Obama is using Nicorette "with success." He recently said he bummed a cigarette a couple of times during the campaign.

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