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Tag: brain surgery

  • Maradona ‘improving every day’ after brain surgery

    Maradona ‘improving every day’ after brain surgery

    Argentina and Napoli great Diego Maradona is continuing to make an “incredible recovery” from brain surgery, according to his personal doctor Leopoldo Luque.

    The 60-year-old underwent a “routine” operation for a subdural haematoma last Tuesday, a day after being admitted to hospital due to concerns over anaemia and dehydration.

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    Luque previously revealed Maradona will remain in hospital until at least Monday and has now provided a further update on the legendary forward’s condition.

    “Diego is better, much better,” he said outside Olivos Clinic in Buenos Aires province, where Maradona is staying. “Every day he is improving. His recovery is incredible. He’s very lucid.”

    Maradona, who won the World Cup with Argentina in 1986 and guided Napoli to two Serie A titles, has been in charge of Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata since 2019.

    The club were in action on Sunday for the first time since their head coach was hospitalised, drawing 2-2 with Velez Sarsfield in Argentina’s top tier.

    Gimnasia’s players held a banner reading “we are with you” ahead of the game, and assistant boss Sebastian Mendez hopes his side did Maradona proud with their display.

    “It has been a complicated week,” he said. “Diego is still hospitalised and we are all aware of that.

    “We have built a very strong group and we are a family. When one falls, another picks him up. There is always a word of encouragement and that makes the group healthy. It also results in a team that is hard to beat on the pitch. It was a difficult week and we managed to play well.

    “The latest news I have from Diego is that he is very well, luckily, and thank God because it is what we all hope. He is in a good mood and passes these days in the best possible way.”

    Matias Garcia, who scored from the penalty spot against Velez, told Fox Sports: “We send him a big hug and hope he soon recovers. We are waiting for him.”

    Maradona, widely considered to be one of the greatest to play the game, was top scorer and named best player at the 1986 World Cup, and reached the final in 1990.

  • Diego Maradona brain surgery successful

    Diego Maradona brain surgery successful

    Maradona, 60, was initially admitted to the Ipensa Clinic in La Plata, Argentina on Monday, suffering from anaemia and dehydration.

    He was later transferred to the Olivos Clinic in Buenos Aries to undergo surgery on a subdural hematoma – an accumulation of blood between a membrane and his brain.

    “I was able to evacuate the hematoma successfully and Diego tolerated the surgery very well,” said Leopoldo Luque, Maradona’s neurosurgeon and personal physician.

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    “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.”
    The hematoma was likely to have been caused by an accident, Luque added, although Maradona has said he does not remember the event.

    Maradona, who won the World Cup with Argentina in 1986 and is widely considered to be one of the greatest players of all time, currently coaches local club Gimnasia y Esgrima.

    He had initially self-isolated after one of his bodyguards displayed symptoms of coronavirus, the country’s state-run news agency Telam reported last Tuesday.

    Maradona last appeared in public on his 60th birthday last Friday before his side’s league match against Patronato.

    He was gifted a plaque and a cake to celebrate the occasion but he did not stay to watch the game and witnesses said he looked unwell and weak.

    The former Napoli, Barcelona and Boca Juniors player has suffered frequent periods in hospital over the years, often due to the lifestyle that accompanied and followed his playing career.

    He was taken into hospital in 2004 with severe heart and respiratory problems linked to cocaine use.

    Maradona later underwent drug rehabilitation in Cuba and Argentina, before a stomach-stapling operation in 2005 helped him lose weight.

    In 2007, he checked himself into a clinic in Buenos Aires to help him overcome alcohol abuse problems.

    He also fell ill at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, where he was filmed passing out in an executive box at the Argentina-Nigeria game, and was admitted to hospital in January 2019 with internal bleeding in the stomach.