Sharon 'critical' after latest surgery

Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon was critically ill in hospital today after emergency stomach surgery.

It was the seventh operation for the premier – who is in a coma in a hospital in Jerusalem – after suffering a massive stroke on January 4.

Doctors removed a decayed part of his large intestine in the four-hour operation yesterday which officials said was successful.

The hospital where he is being treated said today he stabilised after the surgery but remained in critical condition.

Israelis closely followed their 77-year-old leader’s latest ordeal, with TV stations repeatedly breaking into regular programming for updates, but the country already has come to terms with his departure from politics.

Sharon’s political heir, Ehud Olmert, quickly took the reins as acting prime minister after Sharon’s stroke, and appears poised to lead Sharon’s centrist Kadima Party to victory in March 28 elections.

Sharon was taken to the operating theatre after doctors, who had noticed abdominal swelling, conducted a CT scan and a laparoscopy, or insertion of a small camera through the abdominal wall.

Surgeons detected necrotic – or dead – tissue in the bowels and removed 50 centimetres (20 inches), or one-third, of the large intestine, said Hadassah Hospital director Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef..

The necrosis was either caused by infection or a drop in the blood supply to the intestines, something common in comatose patients, the hospital director said. Mor-Yosef said doctors did not find blocked blood vessels.

Mor-Yosef said Saturday’s surgery was relatively simple, and that Sharon’s main medical problem continues to be the coma. Asked whether Sharon could come out of the coma, Mor-Yosef said: “All possibilities remain open, but with each passing day, the chances are lower.”

The hospital statement this morning said: “Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s condition stabilised after surgery, but it is still described this morning as critical and stable. The prime minister is in the general intensive care unit.”