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Test shows activity in Sharon's brain
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-15 09:01
JERUSALEM - A test has shown activity in both sides of Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon's brain, but he remains comatose and in critical but stable condition,
Hadassah Hospital said Saturday in its first update on the Israeli leader's
condition in more than 24 hours.
An unidentified
woman looks out from a window at the Hadassah hospital where ailing
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is being treated in Jerusalem Friday
Jan. 13, 2006. Sharon's condition remains unchanged, critical but stable,
according to a statement early Friday from Hadassah hospital.
[AP] |
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Experts said activity in both sides didn't indicate anything about the extent
of the brain damage Sharon may have suffered as a result of his devastating
stroke on Jan. 4.
"It is another piece of information that on its own means nothing," said Dr.
Gal Ifergan, a neurologist at Soroka Medical Center in Beer Sheva, who is not
treating Sharon.
Sharon could still have extensive brain damage but show activity on both
sides of his brain, Ifergan said.
"It's very worrisome that he hasn't woken from his coma," Ifergan added.
"Coma reflects brain damage. (But) it's hard to talk about prospects for
awakening without knowing the patient."
The terse statement released by hospital spokeswoman Yael Bossem-Levy after
the end of the Jewish Sabbath said an electroencephalogram (EEG) conducted on
Friday, "showed both sides of the brain were functioning, a reflection of the
prime minister's condition." There was no elaboration.
Earlier this week, doctors began weaning Sharon from the coma they induced to
give his brain time to heal from the stroke and the three surgeries that
followed. The sedation level on Saturday was light, hospital spokesman Ron
Krumer said, but he had no information on when Sharon might be totally off
anesthetics.
The 77-year-old leader's failure to wake up could be a sign that his comatose
condition is due to the stroke itself, and not the sedatives.
On Friday, Channel 1 TV cited one of Sharon's neurosurgeons, Dr. Felix
Umansky, as saying he was optimistic Sharon would emerge from his coma within 10
days.
But some outside experts have said the prognosis for recovery looked poor,
given the severity of the stroke and the extended coma.
Doctors have reported only slight improvement in Sharon's condition in the
past several days, centering on small movements of limbs in response to pain.
Sharon's stroke plunged Israeli politics and Mideast peace prospects into
turmoil, as he was seen as the politician best positioned to end Israel's
conflict with the Palestinians.
But as his coma drags on, Israelis are gearing up to move on without him.
Polls show Sharon's Kadima party, which advocates further territorial
concessions to the Palestinians and the eventual establishment of a Palestinian
state, taking more than one-third of parliament's 120 seats in March 28
elections.
And Sharon's heir apparent, Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, has avoided a
confrontation with the Palestinians over their Jan. 25 legislative elections by
agreeing to let Palestinians vote in symbolically significant east Jerusalem.
Both sides claim Jerusalem as their capital.
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