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Pope's condition 'stable'
02/02/2005 14:00 - (SA)
Rome - Pope John Paul II was given "respiratory assistance" overnight but was in a stable condition on Wednesday in Rome's Gemelli hospital where he was preparing to say mass, Vatican spokesperson Joaquin Navarro-Valls announced.
"During the night, he underwent respiratory assistance," which helped stabilise his condition after he was rushed to hospital with breathing difficulties, Navarro-Valls told reporters outside the hospital.
He gave no details of what such assistance entailed.
The 84-year-old pope slept "for a few hours" during the night, and had "very little fever," he added, in the first medical bulletin on the pope's condition for more than 12 hours.
"When I left him the pope was preparing to celebrate mass with his secretary," Monsignor Staneslaw Zewesz, the spokesperson said.
He denied suggestions that the pope had to undergo a tracheotomy to help him breathe, and added that he did not undergo a CAT scan, as reported by Italian media.
In a previous statement late on Tuesday, the Vatican said Pope John Paul had suffered "acute" inflammation of the larynx and a "laryngo-spasm" - a condition where one cannot catch one's breath.
Laryngo-spasm is a medical term for the sudden closure of the larynx that blocks the passage of air to the lungs. In severe cases, it can require a tracheotomy to be performed.
He is expected to spend a couple of days in hospital.
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