Surgery a success but Sharon still in a coma

ISRAELI Prime Minister Ariel Sharon underwent a successful tracheotomy yesterday to help wean him off a respirator that has been helping him breathe since he suffered a massive stroke 11 days ago, hospital officials said, but he remained in a coma.

The surgery, conducted under general anesthesia, took less than an hour as doctors cut a small hole in Mr Sharon's neck to insert a tube directly into his windpipe.

The hospital said that before the throat surgery, Mr Sharon had a brain scan, which showed his condition was "unchanged since the previous scan, carried out last Thursday."