Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Brazil's Lula recovering from second brain surgery

by VOA News

   Doctors in Brazil say President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had a
   surgical procedure Thursday to treat bleeding in his brain -- his
   second this week. The operation was successful, and he was recovering
   in a hospital's intensive care unit -- ICU.

   Speaking to reporters at Sao Paulo's Sirio-Libanes Hospital, the
   president's doctor, Roberto Kalil Filho, said the 79-year-old Lula was
   awake and speaking, following the early-morning procedure, which lasted
   about an hour.

   Doctors performed a "middle meningeal artery embolization," a minimally
   invasive treatment that blocks one or more blood vessels, in this case
   intended to reduce the risk of future bleeding.

   They said he is expected to be moved from the ICU Friday and released
   from the hospital to resume normal activities next week.

   Thursday's procedure follows a two-hour "unscheduled" surgery Tuesday
   to drain bleeding between his brain and the meningeal membrane that
   surrounds it. Lula traveled from Brasilia, 1,000 kilometers south to
   Sao Paulo, in the early hours of Tuesday to be treated.

   Doctors said the surgery was linked to an accident at the president 's
   official residence in October. Media reports said he was trimming his
   toenails in the bathroom October 19 when he fell and hit his head.

   He was taken to the hospital, received five stitches and was
   discharged, but as a precaution, doctors barred him from traveling to a
   BRICS intergovernmental summit in Russia.

   At the time of the accident, Dr. Filho told GloboNews TV the
   president's fall caused "great" trauma to the back of his head,
   requiring stitches and resulting in a "small brain hemorrhage" in the
   temporal-frontal region. He said then that the injury would have to be
   monitored.

   Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press,
   Reuters and Agence France-Presse.

   The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40
   languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people.
   Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA
   journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.