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Doctors found that the growth on a kidney removed from
conductor James Levine was cancerous, but, fortunately, the malignancy had not
spread and the maestro was expected to recover completely, according to a
statement released on Tuesday by the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Last week, a group of doctors in New York performed a surgery in order to
remove James Levine’s right kidney, after they discovered what initially was
believed to be a cyst. Furthermore, the growth had been causing the 65-year-old
music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera,
strain and serious pain. However, Mr. Levine was released from the unnamed New York hospital over
the weekend.
The orchestra cited the conductor’s brother, Tom Levine, as
saying that although the growth was cancerous, it was “very small and confined.”
Moreover, he added that the tumor had not spread, since it had been detected in
an early stage, and that no supplementary treatment was necessary.
Surgery is the standard treatment for early stage kidney
cancer that has not expanded beyond the organ. Additional surgery, treatment
with targeted therapies or immunotherapy could be taken into account in cases
of cancers that reappear after initial surgery, the American Cancer Society
says on its Web site.
The maestro has had some other health difficulties in the
past years. He suffers from sciatica, and two years ago he injured his right
rotator cuff when he fell on the stage of Boston’s
Symphony Hall during the spectator’s applauses following the orchestra’s
performance.
At the Boston Symphony Mr. Levine is due to direct 12
programs during the next season, which commences on September 24. Focal points
include a concert version of Verdi’s “Simon Boccanegra,” the debut of Elliott
Carter’s Interventions for piano and orchestra and a February agenda of Mozart arias accompanied
by the soprano Barbara Frittoli.
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