Roger Ebert Recovering After Surgery
Film critic Roger Ebert was in good condition after undergoing surgery to remove a cancerous growth in his thyroid gland, doctors said.
“He is expected to make a complete recovery,” said Dr. Harold Pelzer, who performed the surgery Friday at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Doctors removed Ebert’s entire thyroid gland and selected lymph nodes in his neck, Pelzer said, adding that Ebert’s vocal cord function appears normal.
The 59-year-old Chicago Sun-Times movie reviewer is expected to be discharged from the hospital within the next few days, Pelzer said.
Ebert was diagnosed with papillary cancer, one of the most common and curable types of thyroid cancer. He bounced back quickly from a similar procedure in 1987.
Before the surgery, Ebert said programs for his nationally broadcast “Ebert & Roeper and the Movies” television program had been taped in advance, and he hoped to return to work without missing a show.