Ballesteros to have a third brain operation

Published on 24/10/2008 00:09

SPAIN'S five-times major winner Seve Ballesteros will undergo a third brain operation today to ease swelling from a serious brain tumour, the hospital treating him said yesterday.

"The patient Mr Severiano Ballesteros remains stable (in a serious condition]," Madrid's Hospital La Paz said in a statement, adding that the tumour was

"located in an area that requires a very thorough approach of great complexity."

The operation, which will be led by La Paz's chief brain surgeon Javier Heredero, will begin early today and continue into the afternoon.

Surgeons will attempt to stop a hematoma (bleeding), ease brain swelling and remove more of the tumour, the hospital said.

La Paz said 51-year-old Ballesteros was suffering from an oligoastrocytoma – a tumour that affects two types of brain cell and spreads diffusely inside the brain cavity.

Dr Geoff Pilkington, a tumour expert at England's University of Portsmouth, said that type of tumour was very difficult to eradicate but a patient's survival time could be improved by radiotherapy followed by chemotherapy.

Ballesteros, who captured the Open three times and the Masters twice, was admitted to hospital earlier this month suffering dizziness and a brief loss of consciousness.

Pilkington said it was difficult to say how long the Spaniard might survive without knowing more about the tumour.

"I think it's going to be at least a grade three," he added. "They generally develop into a high grade tumour from which a patient will eventually die."