BOSTON (AP) - Boston Mayor Thomas Menino is scheduled to undergo prostate surgery this week, the latest in a series of health issues he's faced including a bone fracture and a serious respiratory infection.
Spokeswoman Dorothy Joyce said in an email on Monday the 70-year-old Menino is schedule for surgery Friday at Brigham and Women's Hospital to correct a "very common issue among men of his age." The mayor's office confirmed the surgery is to address an enlarged prostate.
Joyce said the surgery is elective and will require a few days in the hospital and recovery at home.
Menino's physician, Charles Morris, told the Boston Herald and The Boston Globe that the mayor does not have prostate cancer. He said the surgery is not unusual for a man the mayor's age and does not indicate a more serious condition.
Menino, who has served as mayor since 1993, has been beset by a number of health issues recently.
The longest-serving mayor in the city's history fractured the smaller of the two bones in his lower leg in April when twisting an ankle.
In December, he was released from Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital after spending about six weeks at Brigham and Women's Hospital for treatment of a respiratory infection that developed during a vacation in Italy.
While at the hospital, he suffered complications including a compression fracture in a vertebra in his spine. He also was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.
Menino announced in March he will not seek a sixth full term.
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