The malignant glioma in Ted Kennedy's brain can be treated with surgery.

But if it's very large or deep in the brain.

Surgery may not be the right choice.

"The patient may be severely infected. They may have difficulty telling left versus right. They may have trouble doing simple calculations," says Dr. Walter Jean, a Neurosurgeon at Georgetown University Hospital.

Removing the tumor can relieve symptoms, like the seizure Kennedy suffered.

But even without surgery, he can expect six weeks of intense radiation and chemotherapy--the chemo, in a pill taken at home.

He'll be tired, nauseous, possibly at risk of infection.

But after that initial treatment:
"It is very possible that he can continue to function fully and come back to work on Capitol Hill as long as he feels good," says Dr. Deepa Subramaniam of the Lombardi Cancer Center.

Kennedy will likely remain on chemo and anti-seizure medications.

Experimental medications have shown tremendous promise in shrinking some tumors and there's a vaccine being tested that helps the patient's own body attack the cancer.

Dr. Todd Waldman's team recently discovered a gene that causes it. From that, he hopes to develop a drug to treat it.

"The proof of principle is out there. These things can work, and we expect them to work in tumor types like this over the next decade," says Dr. Waldman.

That may be too late for ted Kennedy but not the 10,000 people like him who are diagnosed every year.