Month-old bump on the head necessitates surgery for Majadle

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
Science, Culture and Sport Minister Ghaleb Majadle underwent surgery early Monday apparently due to a bump he received on the back of his head during a visit to Kazakhstan a month ago. Doctors at Hadassah-University Hospital, Ein Kerem, spent three hours treating the minister's subdural hematoma in his head. Initially, the minister had not been bothered by the bump and did not connect it to the injury, mentioning the incident only after the surgery. Majadle had gone to Hadassah from the Prime Minister's Office on Sunday complaining of nausea, vomiting and weakness. The paramedic at the Prime Minister's Office examined him and could not find any cause for the symptoms. At first, Hadassah emergency room doctors also found nothing, but when he began to feel dizzy, they said they would keep him for observation overnight and do more tests, including an MRI scan of his head. A small hemorrhage was detected - not in the brain, but in the space between it and his skull. He was taken to the operating room, where a Hadassah team, headed by Prof. Felix Umansky (head of neurosurgery), drained out the blood. The operation was successful and Majadle regained consciousness. The 55-year-old minister will be discharged in a few days. According to medical experts, a chronic subdural hematoma is an "old" collection of blood and blood breakdown products between the surface of the brain and the dura, which is its exterior covering. The chronic phase of a subdural hematoma begins several weeks after the initial bleeding. Tiny veins that run between the dura and the surface of the brain tear and leak blood, usually as the result of a head injury. In a chronic subdural collection of balood, the problem is not discovered immediately, and blood leaks gradually from the veins. Only rarely does a subdural hematoma occur spontaneously, without a traumatic injury to the head. The Knesset Science and Technology Committee announced that Majadle's scheduled Wednesday appearance to report on his ministry's plans for 2008 was being postponed to a later date.