Tipper Gore Undergoes Surgery

Tipper Gore, the wife of Vice President Al Gore, underwent surgery Tuesday to remove nodule on her thyroid gland, CBS News White House Correspondent Bill Plante reports.

The small growth will be tested to determine if it is cancerous. The results will be available in about a week. The nodule was discovered a couple of months ago during a medical exam. And though the vice president's wife has had no symptoms of thyroid problems, she had the surgery "as a precautionary measure," according to her office.

The thyroid gland, located in the neck, regulates the metabolism, and nodules' like Mrs. Gore's are extremely common. The American Cancer Society says they occur in more than a third of the population, but that in 95 percent of all cases, they are not cancerous.

"Even in those that are malignant, we are dealing with a very non-aggressive type of malignancy when we're dealing with the thyroid, as opposed to other forms of cancer. And in my experience over 27 years in practice, these are almost universally curable," said Dr. Stuart Fidler.

The operation took place at Johns Hopkins University Medical Center in Baltimore. Mrs. Gore, 51, will spend the night in the hospital, where the vice president will stay with her. She is expected to come home Wednesday. Her staff says that as soon as she gets the results of the test, she will make them public.

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