Beau Biden, vice president’s son, set to return home after procedure

WASHINGTON – The son of Vice President Joe Biden will return home to Delaware on Thursday after undergoing a “successful procedure” at a Houston hospital, the vice president’s office said Wednesday.

Beau Biden, the vice president’s eldest son and Delaware’s attorney general, has been undergoing medical tests in Houston this week to determine the cause of what was described as “an episode of disorientation and weakness that he experienced while on vacation.”

According to the Delaware attorney general’s office, Biden was admitted to Northwestern University Hospital in Chicago last week after he felt disoriented following a long drive to Indiana on family vacation. He then traveled to a Philadelphia hospital to consult with his doctors there, and spent the weekend in Wilmington, Del., where he temporarily resides in his father’s home.

He traveled to Houston this week for additional tests at MD Anderson Cancer Center, but no further details were released. The vice president joined his son in Texas on Monday and canceled scheduled trips this week to Rhode Island and Maine to remain with him.

Biden, 44, had suffered a minor stroke in May 2010, but his neurological status was described by doctors afterward as being “perfect in all arenas.”

In a statement Wednesday afternoon, the vice president and his wife, Jill, said Beau “underwent a successful procedure” Tuesday and reported him to be “in great shape” and set to be discharged. Separately, a spokesperson for the Delaware Department of Justice said that the attorney general had been in touch Wednesday with other officials in his office and would return to Wilmington on Thursday. No further details on the nature of the medical procedure were provided.

Though the vice president’s office and the Delaware attorney general’s office refer only to an episode that took place last week, the Associated Press reported Wednesday that emergency responders were called to Biden’s Delaware home Aug. 1 after reports of someone suffering a possible stroke.

Beau Biden has posted photos on his Twitter account twice in the last week, one on Sunday showing him and his father after a call with a Little League team, and a second from Houston this week with his wife, along with a message thanking supporters for their good wishes.

The vice president had planned to join President Obama on Friday for an event on college affordability in Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Pa. The White House said Wednesday there were no changes to the president’s schedule.

michael.memoli@latimes.com

Twitter: @MikeMemoli