US Senator Edward Kennedy has been taken to hospital in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, with symptoms of a stroke, according to reports.
Kennedy, 76, was taken to the hospital early in the morning, CNN said, citing an unidentified prominent state party member. The source said Kennedy was to be transferred to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
Kennedy had preventive surgery in Boston in October to unclog a partially blocked carotid artery in his neck. The blockage was discovered during a routine check of Kennedy's back and spine, doctors said. A blocked carotid artery can lead to a stroke and death, they said.
The senator has suffered from back problems since a plane crash in 1964 in which the pilot and one of Kennedy's aides were killed and the senator was pulled from the wreckage with a back injury, punctured lung, broken ribs and internal bleeding.
The youngest brother of assassinated U.S. President John F. Kennedy, Kennedy was elected to the Senate in 1962 and currently serves as chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labour and Pensions.