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# Zanardi undergoes further neurosurgery
- URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/zanardi-undergoes-further-neurosurgery/
- Published: 2020-06-29T18:50:07.000Z
- Updated: 2023-09-16T18:46:36.000Z
- Description: Alex Zanardi has undergone further neurosurgery in the Siena hospital where he is being treated for the severe head injury he suffered in a handbike accident 10 days ago
- Author: Matt Beer
- Tags: Formula 1, IndyCar, #image-center-center

Alex Zanardi has undergone further neurosurgery in the Siena hospital where he is being treated for the severe head injury he suffered in a handbike accident 10 days ago.

The 1997/98 CART Indycar champion, ex-Formula 1 racer and three-time Paralympic gold medal winner has been in an induced coma [since the crash](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/zanardi-stable-but-in-serious-neurological-situation/) on Friday June 19, with the hospital saying that it would wait until this week to [further evaluate his condition](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/doctors-wont-consider-zanardi-assessment-until-next-week/).

A statement from the Santa Maria alle Scotte hospital on Monday said that a CT scan performed as part of the evaluation “showed an evolution of the patient’s state which made it necessary to resort to a second neurosurgery”.

This operation took two and a half hours, and afterwards Zanardi was returned to the intensive care unit where he is being kept intubated and sedated.

The hospital’s medical director Roberto Gusinu said the surgery “represents a step that had been hypothesised by the team” treating Zanardi.

Zanardi’s condition is “stable from the cardio-respiratory and metabolic point of view” according to the latest hospital bulletin but neurologically the situation is “severe”.

The 53-year-old double amputee had undergone an initial [“complicated” surgery](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/zanardi-in-intensive-care-after-head-injury-surgery/) on the night of the crash, which happened when he made contact with a truck while competing in a relay event on public roads in Siena.

The doctors treating him [have already warned](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/doctors-waiting-to-evaluate-zanardi-warn-of-severe-injuries/) of potentially severe neurological consequences from the injury and concerns over eye damage in particular too, and made clear that a more detailed prognosis would not be possible until they were in a position to reduce his sedation.