What are Mr Sharons prospects for survival?
Poor and getting poorer by the moment. His age, 77, size, duration of surgery, repeat visits to the operating theatre and the fact he had been taking blood-thinners all count against him. Even before he returned to the operating theatre for a third time yesterday, a British stroke specialist told the Guardian his chances of surviving a few days or weeks were no better than 50-50. Half the patients with this kind of stroke died within the month. Even if he pulls through he is likely to suffer severe disability such as paralysis, loss of language or cognitive problems. What kind of stroke did he suffer? First there was a mini-stroke, or transient ischaemic attack (TIA), before Christmas. This is caused by a clot or debris in vessels carrying blood to the brain. The suspicion was that this was linked to an undetected small hole in Mr Sharon’s heart. He was due to have surgery on Thursday to put that right. He was put on anti-coagulants or blood thinners in the mean time. A more major stro
