French doctors treating Michael Schumacher for brain injuries sustained in a ski fall said the seven-times Formula One world champion was in slightly better condition yesterday after an over-night operation, but that he re-mained fragile.
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.
Doctors treating him at a hospital in the eastern city of Grenoble said his condition had stabilised enough by late Monday to carry out a new operation to treat the effects of internal bleeding within Schumacher’s skull.
“The situation is more under control than yesterday but we cannot say he is out of danger,” Jean-Francois Payen, head anaesthetician, told a news conference at the CHU hospital.
“We have won some time but we must continue an hour-by-hour surveillance.
“It is premature to speculate on his condition,” he said, adding that Schumacher was still in a critical state and suffering from severe lesions and contusions.
Emmanuel Gay, head of the hospital’s neurosurgery service, said the operation carried out around 10pm on Monday had successfully removed a large hematoma – the medical term for a build-up of blood – from his brain.
“It was larger and more accessible (than others). We judged we could remove it without taking any risks,” Gay said.
He said the operation was designed to reduce, within Schumacher’s skull, the pressure on the brain.
Doctors said the fact that the retired motor racing champion was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident had at least enabled him to make it to the hospital alive.
Payen said the medical team in Grenoble had discussed the operation with Schumacher’s family.
He added that the condition of the motor racing great was still too fragile to consider transferring him to another hospital for the time being.
Schumacher is under the care of Professor Gerard Saillant, a brain and spinal injury expert who is also president of the International Automobile Federation (FIA) Institute.
Saillant said it was still impossible to say how Schumacher’s condition would progress in the coming days.
“We are a little less worried but I’m sure you understand that the situation could change this evening or tomorrow,” he told the news conference.
French authorities have opened an investigation into the accident, which took place as Schumacher was out skiing with his teenage son.
Italian F1 team Ferrari always used to have an annual January gathering with their drivers in the Dolomites and Schumacher, a fitness fanatic, impressed with his skiing ability.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel had been deeply shocked to learn of his accident, her spokesman said on Monday as expressions of concern poured in from fans, former team-mates and rivals.
Former British F1 driver David Coulthard said he believed Schumacher had not won the full recognition he merited for taking his sport to new heights.
“I only hope Michael Schumacher pulls through so that he can see all the nice things people are saying about him,” he wrote in the Daily Telegraph newspaper, yesterday.