THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 2, 1994 TAG: 9407020622
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: MIAMI LENGTH: Short : 32 lines
James K. Batten, one of the nation's leading news executives as chairman and chief executive officer of Knight-Ridder Inc., was in stable condition after surgery Friday to remove a brain tumor.
The tumor was discovered Thursday in his right temporal lobe by a magnetic resonance imaging scan, and Batten, a native of Holland, Va., underwent seven hours of surgery Friday afternoon at Jackson Memorial Hospital.
Dr. Howard Landy, the neurosurgeon who performed the operation, said Batten came through the surgery well and was ``talking clearly and lucidly'' afterward.
Landy said the tumor was probably malignant, but it would be several days before pathology reports could confirm the diagnosis. If the malignancy is confirmed, company spokesman Polk Laffoon said, radiation treatments would begin within the next few weeks.
Batten, 58, was seriously injured last October in a car accident. The accident was blamed on an unexplained seizure.
Doctors now believe Batten suffered a ``temporal lobe seizure'' and blacked out while driving. by CNB