Wilson Has Surgery on Vocal Cords : Health: Doctor says operation to remove nodule was successful and governor is expected to make a full recovery.

In an uncomplicated 30-minute operation Friday morning, Gov. Pete Wilson had a benign callus removed from his vocal cords at UCLA Medical Center.

Dr. Gerald S. Berke, who performed the surgery, said that Wilson was up and talking shortly after the 9:30 a.m. outpatient operation and that the governor should have a complete recovery. Wilson left the medical center shortly after noon, appearing in good spirits as he waved to reporters from a limousine.

Wilson will return to his full duties Monday morning, but Berke has advised him to talk very little over the weekend and not to make any speeches for a week to allow the surgical wounds to heal fully. Berke also said it is unlikely that further calluses, commonly called nodules, will appear, but Wilson will probably undergo vocal training to reduce stress on his vocal cords to further reduce the risk.

“He’ll have to change his vocal habits to keep it from re-occurring,” said Berke, the director of head and neck surgery at the medical center, at news conference. Such training teaches speakers to use their diaphragms rather than their vocal cords to get louder speech.

Lt. Gov. Gray Davis was not notified of the surgery in advance and there was no formal transfer of power during the operation, said Leslie Goodman, Wilson’s director of communications.

Although the surgery came at a time when Wilson is exploring a bid for the Republican presidential nomination, Goodman said the recuperation will not interfere with fund raising and will not lead to the cancellation of any speeches.

The nodule, about an eighth of an inch across, was formed when Wilson’s vocal cords rubbed together “with too much force” during speeches, Berke said. The process is similar to the formation of a callus on a finger by repetitive use of a pair of scissors. Such injuries to the vocal cords are common among preachers, actors, singers and others who use their voice a lot.

Such calluses, which are stiff, interfere with the vibrations of the vocal cords, changing the tone and timbre of the voice. They also can tend to make the throat feel more constricted.

The surgery involved putting a tiny microscope down Wilson’s throat and, under its magnification, using a pair of highly sharpened metal forceps to excise the callus. The callus was biopsied while Wilson was under anesthesia, Berke said, and was found to be benign. A cross-section of the callus will undergo a more complex biopsy over the next three days, but is expected to prove negative, he said. Such calluses are very rarely cancerous, he added.

Berke said Wilson has been suffering some discomfort from the nodule for two years, but has recently noticed an intensification of symptoms, including hoarseness, an increased need to clear his throat and a diminishing of the volume of his voice.