FOUNTAIN HILLS, Arizona (CNN) -- A team of doctors from the Mayo Clinic declared Friday that there appears to be no physical reason why Sen. John McCain, the 71-year-old presumed Republican presidential candidate, could not carry out the duties of the office.Sen. John McCain, who turns 72 in August, could become the oldest person elected to a first term as president.
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"Sen. McCain enjoys excellent health and displays extraordinary energy, and, while it is impossible to predict any person's future health, I and my colleagues can find no medical reason or problem that would preclude Sen. McCain from fulfilling all of the duties or obligations of the president of the United States," said Dr. John D. Eckstein, an internist who has been overseeing McCain's treatment for 16 years at the famed research center's campus in Scottsdale, Arizona.
McCain has been undergoing periodic examinations there since the 1990s and annual examinations since 2000, Eckstein said. His most recent comprehensive examination took place in March, with follow-up tests this month.
The doctors described a number of health issues faced by McCain, many of them typical for a man of his age but at least one of them potentially serious.
McCain has had four malignant melanomas removed. Three of them -- on his left shoulder, left arm and left nasal wall -- were limited to the top skin layer and were not invasive. They were removed in 1993, 2000 and 2002, and all were declared Stage 0, of little long-term concern.
But a fourth melanoma proved to be invasive and was removed from his left lower temple in 2000, Eckstein said.
The surgery on McCain's temple was carried out in August 2000 by Dr. Michael Hinni, who described the melanoma as 2.2 mm thick at the thickest point and 2 cm across.
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Hinni said that, in order to leave a 2 cm margin that would minimize the risk of leaving some of the cancer intact, he had to remove a patch of skin roughly 6 cm in diameter, as well as an underlying carotid salivary gland from McCain's face.
Dissection of dozens of lymph nodes showed no evidence that the cancer had spread, he said.
According to the American Cancer Society, such a melanoma would be classified as Stage IIA, which is associated with a five-year survival rate of about 78 percent and a 10-year survival rate of about 66 percent.
The wound required major reconstruction and has left the senator with a mass of scar tissue on his face. His left jaw appears prominent because because there was an absence of soft tissue on the face in front of his ear, Hinni said.
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