| EFL to just the new medical info. As I said in another note, this looks very bad. |
JERUSALEM (AP) - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon underwent hours of surgery after suffering a massive, life-threatening stroke, but he was returned to the operating room Thursday after a brain scan revealed he required more treatment.
Doctors began emergency surgery about midnight that lasted throughout the night. Doctors said Thursday morning the operation would last several more hours. Surgery apparently had been complicated by blood thinners he had been given following a mild stroke on Dec. 18, and the medication may also have contributed to Wednesday's stroke.
Mor-Yosef said that after several hours of surgery, the bleeding had stopped but that Sharon was returned to the operating theater. ``We are continuing with the same operation, and there are more areas that need to be treated,'' Mor-Yosef said, without elaborating.
Mor-Yosef did not address Sharon's prognosis, but neurosurgeons not involved in Sharon's treatment said a full recovery was not likely following such a massive stroke. They said it usually takes at least a day after the surgery to determine the extent of any damage.
Sharon's personal physician said early Thursday that he expects Sharon to emerge from surgery ``safely.'' ``The prime minister is currently in surgery, it is proceeding properly,'' said Dr. Shlomo Segev. ``We need to wait patiently. I expect him to emerge from it safely.''
Doctors said chances of recovery were slim. ``It's among the most dangerous of all types of strokes,'' with half of victims dying within a month, said Dr. Robert A. Felberg, a neurologist at Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans. ``The fact that he's on a respirator means it's extremely serious,'' said Dr. Philip Steig, chair of neurosurgery at Weill-Cornell Medical Center in New York.
Dr. Larry Goldstein, director of Duke University's stroke program, said much depends on the extent, location and duration of the bleeding. ``Bleeding in some areas of the brain, if it's caught early enough, you can actually have not a bad outcome,'' he said.
Doctors checking Sharon late last month said he weighed 118 kilograms (260 pounds) at the time of the first stroke but had since lost more than 2 kilograms (six pounds) and was otherwise in good health. Sharon is about 170 centimeters (5-foot-7).
The prime minister had been taking blood thinners since the first stroke to prevent another clot, but such drugs also raise the risk of cerebral hemorrhages, which account for only about 10 percent of strokes. Other possible causes are ruptured blood vessels, an aneurysm, or bulge in a vessel wall that bursts, or even chronic high blood pressure.
| The surgery may be one or both of two options: 1) an effort to stop the bleeding (especially if it's an aneursym) and evacuate the clot, and/or 2) a procedure to remove part of the skull temporarily to allow a swelling brain room to expand. |
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