UPDATE
It comes after wild rumours started spreading on social networking sites, including Twitter, that the 45-year-old had passed away.
Getty / RexMichael Schumacher Doctors treating Formula 1 ace Michael Schumacher have been forced to deny the seven-times world champion has died.
It comes after wild rumours started spreading on social networking sites, including Twitter, that the 45-year-old had passed away.
A spokesperson for the Grenoble hospital where the racing driver is being treated immediately put out a statement saying: "The hospital denies that Michael Schumacher has died."
Meanwhile top neurosurgeon Dr. Munther Sabarini told how Schumacher’s brain cells will be “working together like a Formula One team” in a bid to get him to wake up from his six week long coma.
And because of his age and fitness he has better odds of recovering from the trauma.
He said:” So if a driver shows weakness, then another driver takes over under the new situation. So it is with the brain cells.
“You can support brain function with a lot of resources so the healing process is accelerated and cause as little damage as possible.
“Typically high-energy bodily functions are shut down during a coma. Only after awakening can they be enabled again. The vital signs are observed and corrected.
“It is then up to the doctors to do a great deal; physiotherapy, mental care, treatment of new or old diseases.
“Depending on the aid required the patient receives medication - usually called neuro vitamins - but the measures applied vary strongly from case to case.
“After awakening one needs a few months to a few years to learn to overcome physical changes. Young and healthy people like Schumacher have better chances to recover from such a trauma.”
The race ace’s medical team at the Grenoble University Hospital in France announced last week they are slowly reducing the anaesthetic that has kept the father-of-two unconscious since his low-speed ski accident on December 29 when he smashed his head on to rocks.
But the process could take many more weeks. Anaesthetic gases which may have accumulated in his body’s fatty tissue must be removed extremely slowly.
But there have been no facial or bodily responses to his environment, according to medical sources.
Schumacher will be receiving food through a tube to his stomach, oxygen via a hose from a machine next to his bed as he still cannot breathe independently.
His joints and muscles are massaged three times a day to prevent atrophy and bed sores.
The coma suppressed his swallowing reflex, pain perception and his respiratory drive. He has to be acutely monitored around the clock during this wake-up phase to see if such things are returning naturally.
But the greatest risk to Schumacher lying in a prone position is pneumonia, say experts.
The lack of a competent swallowing mechanism can make saliva run into the lungs and trigger the potentially lethal respiratory infection.
Andreas Pingel, medical director of the Centre for Spine Surgery and Neuro-Traumatology at the BG Hospital in Frankfurt told Germany’s Focus Magazine:” About 30 to 50 percent of all patients who lie in a coma as long as Michael Schumacher has get it.”
His blood is also thinned to prevent thrombosis and he is regularly turned and even stood straight up at times to keep blood flowing. He lies on a special air-filled mattress to prevent pressure sores and his urinary tract is under constant scrutiny because of the danger of waste bacteria entering the bloodstream and causing a potentially fatal infection.
Well hope it's not true to be fair the words "social networking sites" is enough for me to think BS!