MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lula needs additional surgery for head bleeding

Thursday's procedure is relatively simple and should last about one hour

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva needs to go through an additional head surgical procedure on Thursday to prevent further blooding. He had been operated on earlier this week to relieve persistent headaches due to an intracranial hematoma following a domestic accident that prevented him from traveling to the BRICS Summit.

Lula was flown Monday night from Brasilia to the Syrian-Lebanese Hospital in São Paulo where it was detected that he had an “intracranial hemorrhage” after the fall he suffered almost two months ago and an emergency surgery was performed Tuesday. An MRI showed “bleeding” of “three centimeters” between the skull and the brain, for which he was urgently transferred to São Paulo for surgery. In the first surgery, the bleeding was completely drained.

”As part of the therapeutic program, (Lula) will undergo a complementary surgery with an endovascular procedure (embolization of the middle meningeal artery)“ on Thursday morning, a statement from the hospital read.

Lula's Chief Physician Roberto Kalil told reporters that Thursday's procedure was to be ”relatively simple“ and of ”low risk,“ consisting of a femoral catheterization to embolize the meningeal artery. The operation should last around one hour, he added. The purpose of this intervention is to ”minimize the risk of future bleeding“ although it is a ”low probability“ hypothesis, he also pointed out.

Kalil insisted that the procedure was within ”protocol“ and was decided Wednesday, although it was already ”foreseen“ as a possibility since Tuesday's surgery.

Lula was reported to have ”spent the day well, without complications“ and ”performed physical therapy, walked, and received visits from family members“ while he remained under intensive care. He was also said to be”lucid, oriented, conversational“ and ”evolved well in the immediate postoperative period.“ He ”remains under drainage while awaiting new routine examinations,“ a medical report also noted.

Doctors admitted that Lula's was a ”common“ type of complication, ”mainly in older people.“ The President is expected to remain hospitalized until next week.

On Oct. 19, Lula fell in the bathroom of the Alvorada Palace and hit the back of his head on the floor. He received stitches and periodic evaluations for several weeks. On Nov. 18 and 19 he hosted the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro.

On Tuesday, Lula was supposed to welcome Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico, who instead met with Vice President Geraldo Alckmin.

Although the Constitution allows the Vice President to take over the Executive Branch, Communication Minister Paulo Pimenta said that ”in principle” Lula was not being considered for formal removal from office.