Sharon 'stable' after op No 3

2006-01-06 18:35

Jerusalem - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon remains in a critical, but stable, condition after a third bout of surgery to stem bleeding in his brain, said a hospital spokesperson on Friday.

Shlomo Moryussef, director of Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital, said: "Compared to previous scans, I can say that there is a significant improvement" in Sharon's brain."

The bleeding had stopped and "the pressure on his skull has returned to normal", he told reporters after the prime minister, who was rushed to hospital late on Wednesday after a massive stroke, underwent a fresh brain scan.

"Even though the result of the CT (computed tomography) scans are better than yesterday, the condition is still critical," he said. But he added that the prime minister was "stable".

"Some of the blod clots which remained from preceding operations have been removed. There is no more active bleeding, and the intra-cranial pressure has returned to normal," said Moryussef.

Sharon would be transferred back to the hospital's intensive-care unit once doctors had adjusted the position of a catheter attached to his brain, he added.

- AFP