Beau Biden, the Delaware Attorney General and son of Vice President Joe Biden, underwent a complicated biopsy of a brain mass at the MD Anderson Cancer Center last night in Houston, NBC News has learned.
"You can read from that that it's likely that there was a tumor or some kind of tissue left behind from this mass that was biopsied," NBC News chief medical editor Dr. Nancy Snyderman said Wednesday on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.
Waiting for the results of a biopsy like this may take weeks, Snyderman said.
"These can be very frustrating times for families, because families want answers," she said.
But today, according to a statement from the vice president and Dr. Jill Biden, Biden is in "great shape" and will be discharged Thursday.
"Yesterday our son Beau underwent a successful procedure," the vice president and his wife said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. "He is in great shape and is going to be discharged tomorrow and heading home to Delaware. He will follow up with his local physicians in the coming weeks."
That Biden is going home is a piece of good news for the family, Snyderman says.
"It means that there were no complications overnight," she said. She said there's a possibility that the brain mass may have been the trigger for the neurological symptoms Biden has experienced, and with its removal, the symptoms could go away, too.
Any plans for treatment will be on hold until there is a definitive diagnosis. Biden's doctors will continue to watch him carefully over the coming weeks.
Biden had experienced weakness and disorientation while on a family vacation last week. Before coming to Houston, Biden had reportedly been seen at two other major medical centers.
Biden has had a history of neurological issues, suffering a stroke three years ago when he was 41.
The 44 year-old Biden looked healthy and in good spirits smiling alongside wife Hallie in a photo he tweeted Tuesday, saying “Touched by all your well wishes –thank you.”