Reagan Prostate Tissue Benign, Lab Tests Show : President ‘Feels Good,’ Walks Around Hospital Suite, Meets With Regan, National Security Chief

President Reagan continued Tuesday what White House officials described as an uneventful recovery from prostate surgery as final pathology results confirmed that the removed tissue was not cancerous.

Shouting to reporters from the window of his suite at the Bethesda Naval Medical Center, Reagan, wearing a red bathrobe, said that he felt “fine” and may be discharged Thursday. He appeared at the third-floor window as First Lady Nancy Reagan arrived to join him for lunch.

No Complaints of Pain

The President “feels good and has not complained of any pain,” according to a statement issued by Army Col. John Hutton, the White House physician. “Final laboratory results on (the removed tissue) . . . are in and show the tissue to be benign.”

Hutton described Reagan’s doctors as “impressed and extremely pleased” by the President’s recovery from Monday’s approximately one-hour surgery to relieve a urinary obstruction caused by an overgrowth of prostate tissue.

The President began his day with a breakfast of bran cereal, fresh fruit, toast and honey, apple juice and decaffeinated coffee, the White House said.

Later in the morning, he discussed domestic and foreign policy with White House Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan and Frank C. Carlucci, his new adviser for national security affairs.

Reagan sat in a chair during the one-hour, five-minute meeting and walked to the sitting room of his hospital suite unassisted, White House spokesman Larry Speakes said. In the afternoon, Reagan placed congratulatory telephone calls to the newly elected Democratic and Republican congressional leaders and met with Vice President George Bush.

On Tuesday evening, Reagan underwent a CAT scan (three-dimensional X-ray) of his abdomen, the last of a series of checks at the hospital for possible spread of the colon cancer that was removed in July, 1985.

Hutton issued a statement late Tuesday saying that the scan “showed no abnormalities or disease other than evidence of previous surgical procedures.”

“The mineralization of bone and size and consistency of the liver were compatible with that of a man much younger than the President,” Hutton noted.

Mrs. Reagan told reporters outside the hospital that results of the CAT scan were “wonderful.”

When asked if the President had been given a clean bill of health, the First Lady replied: “Yes.”

No Sign of Cancer

Earlier tests, including blood tests and a colonoscopy, had shown no evidence of recurrent cancer.

During the prostate operation, one of the most common surgeries for older men, a team of urologists widened Reagan’s urinary tract by slicing away 23 1/2 grams--slightly less than one ounce--of the enlarged gland.

The surgery is called a transurethral prostatectomy because it is performed through the urethra, the channel that connects the bladder to the outside of the body. Reagan underwent a similar operation in 1967.

No Complications

The President, who will turn 76 next month, had no evidence of surgical complications, such as fever, postoperative infection or excessive bleeding, Speakes said. He has received no blood transfusions and required no pain medicines, Speakes added.

A tube called a catheter remained in Reagan’s urethra to drain the bladder and to monitor for bleeding, a standard procedure for several days after such surgery. Patients can usually leave the hospital after three or four days but must continue to recuperate at home for up to six weeks.

Limited Information

The White House has made public only limited information about Reagan’s hospital stay, in contrast to detailed reports about the President’s 1985 cancer surgery and the gunshot wounds he suffered in the March, 1981, assassination attempt.

Briefings have been conducted by Speakes, not by the team of physicians from the Mayo Clinic and the Bethesda Naval Medical Center who are attending the President.