Rep. Joaquin Castro undergoes surgery to remove tumors

Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Rep. Joaquin Castro said that he successfully underwent surgery to remove tumors from his gastrointestinal tract.

The 48-year-old Texas Democrat said in a statement that he underwent surgery Monday at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston to remove gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumors, which had been discovered last summer following a series of tests.

"My prognosis is good," he said. "I expect to be home recovering in Texas for several weeks before returning to Washington to continue my work on behalf of the people of my hometown, San Antonio."

The National Cancer Institute said a gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumor is a cancer that forms in the lining of the gastrointestinal tract.

Castro said the tumors had been small, slow-growing and mostly asymptomatic.

"Thank you to the doctors, nurses and medical staff at MD Anderson Cancer Center and the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio for their care and treatment, and thank you to my family for their love and support," he said.

The announcement came on the day Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., returned to Congress for the first time since undergoing cancer surgery on Feb. 14.

"Happy to be back in Washington & ready to get to work for Pennsylvanians," he said in a tweet accompanying a picture of him walking through the Senate halls.

The 62-year-old senator announced in early January that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer a month prior.

He said that while news of his diagnosis "came as a shock," he had "an excellent prognosis."

Following his surgery on Feb. 14, his office issued a statement saying the procedure went well and that he should not require further treatment.