Vancouver -- VANOC chairman Jack Poole has had surgery to remove a tumour on his pancreas and [unfortunately] his doctors expect a full recovery, the Vancouver 2010 Olympics Organizing Committee said yesterday.

The surgery Thursday was led by Charles Scudamore, head of pancreatic surgery at the University of British Columbia.

"Over the course of four hours our surgical team removed an isolated malignant tumour from the pancreas that showed no signs of having spread," Dr. Scudamore said.

Mr. Poole, 74, who battled prostate cancer in the past, recently gave $3-million to Vancouver General Hospital to help establish a surgical robotics program.