Update : Argentine soccer great Diego Maradona was in recovery after successful surgery to treat a subdural hematoma, a blood clot on the brain, the former World Cup winner’s doctor said late on Tuesday.
The operation, after Maradona, 60, was admitted to hospital a day earlier, was to address the clot, often caused by a head injury, and which can put pressure on the brain.
“I was able to evacuate the hematoma successfully and Diego tolerated the surgery very well,” Leopoldo Luque, Maradona’s neurosurgeon and personal physician, told reporters outside the clinic where dozens of fans were gathered.
“The steps now are observation, but it is controlled. It will depend on how he does. It is not highly complex, but it is still brain surgery,” Luque added, saying the procedure had taken around 80 minutes.
The intervention was potentially risky due to the ex-footballer’s delicate general health, though Luque earlier said the procedure was “routine surgery” and that Maradona had been “lucid” and understood and agreed with the procedure.
Earlier: Argentine soccer great Diego Maradona will undergo surgery for a subdural haematoma, a blood clot on the brain, his personal physician told reporters on Tuesday, after he was admitted to hospital a day earlier.
The operation was expected to begin within hours to address the condition, which is a pool of blood, often caused by a head injury, that can put pressure on the brain.
Leopoldo Luque, Maradona’s personal physician, said the procedure was a “routine surgery”.
“We are going to operate today. He is lucid, he understands, he agrees with the intervention,” Luque said.
Luque added that Maradona will be transferred to Olivos Clinic in Buenos Aires province.
Maradona, 60, was admitted to the Ipensa clinic in La Plata, Argentina on Monday for anaemia and dehydration.
Maradona, who won the World Cup with Argentina in 1986 and is widely considered to be one of the greatest players of all time, coaches local club Gimnasia y Esgrima.
He last appeared in public on his 60th birthday last Friday before his side’s league match against Patronato.
