Michael Schumacher underwent a second surgery after a brain scan showed small, “surprising” signs of improvement. However, doctors said that they couldn’t offer any insight into the prognosis for the Formula One champion Michael Schumacher.
The 44-year-old German is battling for his life after slamming his head against a rock while skiing off-piste in the French resort of Meribel on Sunday, an accident which triggered an outpouring of concern among fans around the world.
Michael Schumacher’s condition stabilized somewhat after the second surgery, but he remains in a medically induced coma.
“We cannot tell you any more about the future,” said Gerard Saillant, a surgeon and friend of the family who is in Grenoble. Saillant said it would be “stupid” to make any predictions about Schumacher’s recovery. However, Dr. Emmanuel Gay, the chief neurosurgeon at Grenoble University Hospital, said a brain scan performed late Monday showed bruising “a little everywhere” in Schumacher’s brain, but also said the scan showed an unexpected easing of pressure.
The successful second surgery was to eliminate the largest and most accessible bruise on the left side of his brain. “We cannot say he is out of danger,” Dr. Jean-Francois Payen, head of the hospital’s intensive care unit, said. Payen said any neurological evaluation was currently “out of the question.”
2013 skiing accident of Michael Schumacher
On 29 December 2013, Schumacher was skiing with his son on the Dent de Burgin near Méribel in the French Alps when he fell and hit his head on a rock, sustaining a head injury despite wearing a ski helmet.
Schumacher was skiing outside the marked pistes at that time. He was attended by two ski patrollers and airlifted within fifteen minutes to a hospital in Moûtiers and then to Centre hospitalier universitaire de Grenoble, a larger hospital that specialises in the treatment of brain injuries.
On 30 December, it was announced that Schumacher was in critical condition and in a medically induced coma due to suffering a traumatic brain injury and had undergone urgent neurosurgery to relieve pressure on his brain after a scan showed he had suffered cerebral contusion.
According to his physicians, Schumacher would most likely have died had he not been wearing a helmet. He is under the care of physician Gérard Saillant who is a brain and spinal injury expert and a personal friend of Schumacher.
Source: Wikipedia, USA