While Quayle was hospitalized for pulmonary blood clots in November, tests revealed an “abnormality” on his appendix. Quayle underwent an appendectomy last Wednesday and his doctors said the growth, a mucinous cystadenoma, showed no evidence of malignancy. Other medical experts, however, suggested the rare, benign tumor could help explain Quayle’s history of blood-clotting: his November hospitalization was his third such illness in the last three years. A former aide says the first episode of clotting in his leg, unreported at the time, occurred late in his vice presidency. The second incident, a bout of phlebitis, was in 1993. The Quayle camp first said the growth was unrelated to the clotting, but later acknowledged the tumor could have created a vulnerability to clotting aggravated by long hours on planes. GOP pros say Quayle’s health problems shouldn’t hurt his ‘96 chances. But, says one: “if something else happens, it’ll be tough.”
