After second operation,Schumi improving but not out of danger

Doctors treating him at a hospital in the eastern city of Grenoble said his condition had stabilised enough by late Monday to carry out a new operation to treat the effects of internal bleeding within Schumachers skull.

The situation is more under control than yesterday but we cannot say he is out of danger, Jean-Francois Payen,head anaesthetician,told a news conference at the CHU hospital in the eastern French city of Grenoble.

We have won some time but we must continue an hour-by-hour surveillance8230; It is premature to speculate on his condition, he said,adding that Schumacher was still in a critical state and suffering from severe lesions and contusions.

Emmanuel Gay,head of the hospitals neurosurgery service,said the operation carried out around 10.00 pm 2100 GMT on Monday had successfully removed a large hematoma 8211; the medical term for a build-up of blood 8211; from his brain.

It was larger and more accessible than others 8230; We judged we could remove it without taking any risks, Gay said.

He said the operation was designed to reduce the pressure on the brain.

Helmet crucial

Doctors said the fact that the retired motor racing champion was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident had at least enabled him to make it to the hospital alive.

Payen said the medical team in Grenoble had discussed the operation with Schumachers family. He added that the condition of the motor racing great was still too fragile to consider transferring him to another hospital for the time being.

Schumacher is under the care of Professor Gerard Saillant,a brain and spinal injury expert who is also president of the International Automobile Federation FIA Institute.

Saillant said it was still impossible to say how Schumachers condition would progress in coming days.

We are a little less worried than yesterday but Im sure you understand that the situation could change this evening or tomorrow, he told the news conference.