WASHINGTON (AP) First lady Melania Trump underwent a successful procedure Monday to treat a benign kidney condition and was expected to remain hospitalized for the rest of the week, her staff said. President Donald Trump took a helicopter to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to visit her and tweeted that his wife was in good spirits.
Mrs. Trump, 48, had the embolization procedure Monday morning. The president spoke with Mrs. Trump before the procedure and with her doctor afterward, the first ladys office said.
The president tweeted shortly before arriving at Walter Reed outside Washington, saying it was a successful procedure, describing his wife as being in good spirits and offering his thanks to all of the well-wishers!
The White House did not offer any additional details on Mrs. Trumps condition. In opening remarks in the Senate, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., sent well wishes for a speedy recovery to the first lady.
She was last seen in public on Wednesday at a White House event where she joined the president to honor military mothers and spouses for Mothers Day.
Two urologists who have no personal knowledge of Mrs. Trumps condition said the most likely explanation for the procedure is a kind of noncancerous kidney tumor called an angiomyolipoma.
Theyre not common but tend to occur in middle-aged women, and if they become large enough, they can cause problematic bleeding, said Dr. Keith Kowalczyk of MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.
The treatment of choice is to cut off the blood supply so the growth shrinks, added Dr. Lambros Stamatakis of MedStar Washington Hospital Center. Doctors do that with an embolization, meaning a catheter is snaked into the blood vessels of the kidney to find the right one and block it.
Most of the time, these benign tumors are found when people undergo medical scans for another reason, but sometimes people have pain or other symptoms, Kowalczyk said. Many times, embolization patients go home the same day or the next.
The president had no public appearances scheduled for Monday and declined to answer shouted questions from reporters about how his wife was feeling as he departed the White House for Walter Reed.
The former model from Slovenia is Trumps third wife, and the couple has been married for 13 years. They have a 12-year-old son named Barron.
Mrs. Trump, who has been gradually raising her profile as first lady, recently hosted her first state dinner and launched a public awareness campaign to help children.
With the president watching, Mrs. Trump last week unveiled the Be Best campaign, which she said will focus on childhood wellbeing, social media use and opioid abuse.
Mrs. Trump joined her husband last month to host the prime minister of Japan for a two-day summit at the Trumps Florida estate.
