Block Prostate Cancer Surgery Called Success

Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block underwent surgery for prostate cancer Monday and emerged from an operating room at Kenneth J. Norris Jr. Cancer Hospital about 2 1/2 hours later in good condition, his office reported.

“The surgical procedure went without difficulty,” said surgeon Donald Skinner, chief of urology at the USC Medical School. “Everything went fine without complications.”

The 66-year-old Block was transferred from intensive care to the recovery room around 1 p.m. He was expected to spend the night there, then move to a private room for 5 to 7 days.

“He’s sleepy, but doing fine,” hospital spokeswoman Betsy Bates said Monday afternoon.

Block said shortly after Christmas that he expects to recover and return to his law enforcement duties after recuperating for about six weeks.

While he is out, Block said, the day-to-day operations of the Sheriff’s Department--the largest in the nation--will be run by Undersheriff Robert A. Edmonds, 52.

“But I can assure you that after the first few days of recovery, I will be requesting and receiving regular briefings as to what is occurring in the department operations,” the sheriff said.

Block, who has served since 1982 and was reelected last June, said the cancer was diagnosed during a routine physical examination about six weeks before the December news conference.

After learning about his condition, Block said, he underwent hormonal therapy in anticipation of surgery.

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men after skin cancer, according to medical statistics. One out of 11 men will develop it, most after age 65. About 30,000 men die from the disease each year, making it the second leading cause of cancer deaths in men after lung cancer.

Medical experts say that prostate cancer is often curable when caught early.

Block’s surgery came after a tumultuous year in which the Sheriff’s Department was shaken by a money-skimming corruption scandal and brutality complaints. Block has described 1990 as a “mixed bag of pluses and minuses.”’