bbc political editor nick robinson has undergone a life saving operation to remove a tumour  bbc political editor nick robinson has revealed that a life saving operation to remove a tumour from his lung had been a 'complete success' mr robinson, who announced in february that he was undergoing treatment for lung cancer, said an operation to remove it had gone well and 'normal service will be resumed as soon as possible' writing in a blog on the bbc's website, the 51 year old thanked doctors and nurses at the royal brompton and royal free hospitals for looking after him he said: 'i am now beginning a course of chemotherapy to try to stop the cancer even daring to think of returning i'm also working to restore the strength of my voice after the op 'many thanks to all the doctors and nurses who have been, and are, looking after me   particularly at the royal brompton and royal free hospitals 'heartfelt thanks too to the many people who have been in touch with their good wishes' news of his illness last month sparked an outpouring of messages on twitter, with prime minister david cameron one of the first to tweet a get well message he said: 'sorry to hear you'll be off for a few weeks i wish you well   and a speedy return before the general election' labour leader ed miliband tweeted: 'best wishes for a speedy recovery look forward to seeing you on the campaign trail soon' mr robinson, who is married with three children, used the blog to kick start his return to work and covering the election with some advice for voters his message was: 'it's all about you not them you' mr robinson had been diagnosed with a rare bronchial carcinoid tumour located in the lungs' larger tubes, they are usually slow growing but they can spread and trigger cancer elsewhere in the body, becoming fatal bronchial carcinoid tumours are different from 'normal' lung cancer, which forms among the cells that line the lung carcinoid tumours are actually cancers of tissues that produce hormones and send messages, called the neuroendocrine system they can occur in numerous organs two thirds appear in the digestive tract, a quarter in the lungs, and others in the pancreas, kidney, ovary and testes, according to cancer research uk mr robinson faced vicious personal attacks by supporters of the 'yes to independence' campaign during the scottish referendum  dr keith prowse, medical adviser to the british lung foundation, said while bronchial carcinoid tumours were malignant, they tended to be less aggressive than other forms he said: 'i've had ten or a dozen patients who have had it removed successfully and are still around, some of them older than i am the majority are cured by surgery 'it's often possible to remove the tumours completely, because they tend to grow inside the air passage rather than into the lung' about 70 per cent of patients live at least five years after being diagnosed, he added but he said if they did spread, they tended to be fairly resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy most people with bronchial carcinoid tumours are diagnosed after the age of 60, although they can have existed for years without any symptoms mr robinson has been the corporation's political editor since 2005, when he was poached from itn his illness follows that of his bbc predecessor, andrew marr, who suffered a stroke in january 2013 at the age of 53 after lengthy rehabilitation mr marr has made a good recovery
nick robinson robinson royal brompton royal free hospitals
nick robinson announced in february that he was undergoing treatment  political editor had been diagnosed with a rare bronchial carcinoid tumour  mr robinson thanked medics at royal brompton and royal free hospitals  he said he was now undergoing chemotherapy to stop the cancer returning 