Surgeons have performed two operations to remove blood clots around Mr
Schumacher’s brain. He has been kept asleep to reduce swelling.
Doctors in Grenoble have ruled out giving a prognosis for his condition in the
coming days and months. But it is medically possible for someone to spend
several weeks in an induced coma and make a full recovery.
Professor Jean-Luc Truelle, the former head of the neurology department of the
Foch hospital in Suresnes, told L’Equipe that a month is “the maximum
period before entering into this phase” of coming out of an artificial
coma.
He said the process would begin with a sedation phase, then the patient opens
his eyes followed by the “re-establishment of some kind of
communication, which we verify through simple commands,” such as “open
your eyes, shut your eyes, squeeze your hand”.
“Schumacher appears to show this type of re-awakening,” wrote
L’Equipe. According to Prof Truelle, the two months following this phase are
a period of confusion in which the patient is in a state of “lethargy”
and that recovery stage can take “several years in the case of serious
head trauma”.