Sharon undergoes additional brain scan
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon underwent an additional brain scan today as doctors prepared to assess how much damage the Israeli leader has suffered from his severe stroke.
Hadassah hospital spokeswoman Yael Bossem-Levy said the results of the scan wouldn’t be disclosed before a 6pm (4pm Irish time) briefing unless there has been a change in Sharon’s condition. The hospital said the procedure, which checks for intracranial bleeding and pressure, had been planned.
Before the scan, hospital spokesman Ron Krumer said there had been no change in the prime minister’s condition since Friday.
Worshippers at Hadassah Hospital said a prayer for the ailing prime minister during services today, the Jewish Sabbath. Other synagogues were expected to mention Sharon by name in the special prayer for the ill recited on Sabbath.
Sharon was taken to Hadassah on Wednesday night after complaining of weakness. He suffered a major stroke in the ambulance, and underwent emergency surgery on Thursday and Friday to stop bleeding in the brain and relieve swelling inside the skull.
Hospital director Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef reported that a brain scan following Friday’s five-hour surgery showed ”significant improvement” compared with a pre-operative scan, but said Sharon remained in serious condition.
Outside experts have said the prognosis looks grim, given the severity of the prime minister’s stroke.
An official determination on Sharon’s condition won’t take place before Sunday, after doctors wean him off drugs meant to keep him in a medically induced coma and give him time to heal, Krumer said. They have given no specific information on his brain function.
“There is always some damage when you have cerebral haemorrhage,” Dr. Felix Umansky, the chief neurosurgeon operating on Sharon, said on Friday.
“We cannot assess the damage because he is under anaesthesia all the time. We need to wait and see what will happen once we reduce the medication which keeps him under sedation,” Umansky said.
Sharon’s stroke followed another mild one two weeks earlier and threw the country into turmoil. His deputy, Ehud Olmert, was quickly named the acting prime minister.
Olmert took calls from US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Friday, a sign the Israeli government was moving ahead without its hard-charging leader.
With little hope that Sharon would return to power, Israelis mostly clung to memories of the charismatic leader who left his mark on almost every aspect of Israeli life, fighting in all its battles and capping his legacy as an immensely popular prime minister.
“He’s like an old car. You know they don’t make old cars like that anymore,” said Haim Zanko, 23, of Tel Aviv, who prayed for Sharon at the Western Wall.
