Former F1 doctor Gary Hartstein has provided some professional insight in the wake of a press conference where doctors maintain that Michael Schumacher’s prognosis remains in the balance.
As the world continues to rally in support of Schumacher, who remains in an artificial coma in Grenoble hospital after suffering a massive head injury following his skiing accident, Hartstein said the seven-times world champion has suffered lesions to both hemispheres of his brain.
However the exact nature of the lesions remain unknown.
“We’ve been told that Michael has bilateral lesions. This means the brain is wounded in both hemispheres. That shouldn’t surprise us. This was a hard hit,” Hartstein said.
A winner of 91 grands prix, Schumacher is being kept in a hyperthermic state in an effort to give his brain injuries the best possible chance of recovery.
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“We know that besides keeping Michael deeply asleep, they’ve also slightly lowered his body temperature.
“This is part of the strategy to optimise the brain’s metabolic state.
“Along with increasing the delivery of “good stuff” to the brain, reducing the temperature reduces the brain’s need for stuff.
“Therefore the supply:consumption relation is rendered more favorable.”
Hartstein said the fact that a second operation, for persistently elevated intracranial pressure, has been avoided is a positive sign.
Schumacher’s wife Corinna, daughter Gina-Marie, 16, son Mick, 14, and some of the world’s most powerful motor racing figures are keeping a bedside vigil at the French hospital where he is under the care of the best neurosurgeons in the world.
