SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- A lab report leaked to KCBS raised new questions Monday about Republican presidential nominee John McCain's health, on the same day Democratic Vice Presidential Candidate Joe Biden became the first person on either major party ticket to release his medical records.
While candidates' medical histories are typically ignored, Biden nearly died of a brain aneurysm 20 years ago, leading to questions about his physical fitness to lead.
McCain's advanced age and history of melanoma have also made him a target. Liberal groups and a coalition of doctors, have lobbied publicly for McCain to disclose more about his health, and he allowed select reporters to examine some of his records for a few hours last spring.
But while the Republican nominee has openly discussed his battle with skin cancer in 2000, confidential sources tell KCBS that the cancer may have been more serious than the McCain campaign has disclosed.
While all the Arizona Senator's doctors agreed that he had melanoma, there were differing diagnoses on the health risk posed by the lesion on his left temple.
The first group of doctors who examined the biopsy classified the melanoma as Stage 2A on a scale of 1 to 4, with 4 being the most serious. However, according to McCain's medical records and our sources, when doctors at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington D.C. also analyzed the biopsy, they diagnosed it as Class 3B and believed it had metastasized. That prompted the doctors to remove dozens of lymph nodes along with the lesion. McCain's doctors maintain those organs were cancer-free.
The different diagnoses offer conflicting prognoses long-term. Health professionals put the odds of surviving Class 3B cancer at 35% over 10 years, compared with 60% for the less aggressive 2A.
McCain has not had problems with skin cancer in the eight years since his melanoma was removed, except for a small, less serious lesion on his nose in 2002.
The candidate's doctors see no reason for recurrence, and are confident he'll reach the 10 year benchmark with no further cancer. But the McCain campaign will not release details of the Armed Forces lab report to confirm what form of melanoma the 72-year-old Senator really had, and whether it did, in fact, metastasize.
Barack Obama has not released any of his medical records, but has been open about his family history of cancer and his ongoing effort to quit smoking.
There have been no questions regarding Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin's health, nor has she volunteered any information.
KCBS' Doug Sovern reports
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