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Doctors treating Michael Schumacher report a 'slight improvement' in his condition

German had further surgery overnight to reduce intracranial pressure; But doctors stress Schumacher's condition remains 'critical' and are 'unable' to report that he is now out of danger

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Doctors treating Michael Schumacher have reported a 'slight improvement' in his condition after a second operation was carried out to relieve the swelling on his brain.

Professor Payen also revealed that they had not considered taking Schumacher out of his medically induced coma yet as they still have a number of other procedures to carry out. "No we haven't reduced the treatment, he still remains in a coma and for the moment there is absolutely no question of evaluating from a neurological point of view and seeing how he will be when he wakes up," he said. "At the moment we still have some other problems and some other treatments that have to be made. We are here to tell you what has happened over the last 24 hours, but we really cannot say anything about the future as it is too premature to do so. "He is in a state of hypothermia and a medically induced coma - how long that will last? It will last as long as we judge to be necessary. There are no forecasts right now, none at all." Family friend Professor Gerard Saillant, who is one of the leading orthopaedic surgeons in the world, was also present and whilst he is not involved in treating Schumacher he maintained no prognosis for the future should be drawn from the improvements overnight. "I would just like to underline that we have decided to talk about objectionable signs, factual signs, what exists and what is present. Everything will be expressed in a transparent fashion, but it would be dishonest on our part and on your part to draw any conclusions from this about the future whether this be tomorrow, or six months or two years. It would be stupid to talk about it." The doctors in Grenoble also revealed that transferring Schumacher to his native Germany had not been considered as the risks were too high. "For the moment to envisage a transfer would be dangerous because of his medical condition which is still very fragile," Payen said. "Afterwards that question will arise and we will decide once again in a collegial fashion at what point this transfer could be considered. However, once again at the moment, with the work we are carrying out as a medical team, with the support that we have from the large medical community, we feel it is important for him to be here and to be treated here." Professor Gay emphasised that despite removing some hematoma in the latest operation, the scan still shows more in the brain, but says they will be unable to remove it. "There is still some blood, there are still some hematoma everywhere - you cannot think that the scan is completely clear and that is why the situation must be looked at hour by hour because it is a serious brain injury and it could still develop," Gay confirmed. "The others are not accessible - we are unable to have access to them - they will be supervised. They are not the same size as the one we operated on last night, so the situation is not the same at all. We do not intend to eliminate those other hematoma." The hospital say they do not plan to hold daily press conferences and will only hold such updates on occasions when, such as today, there is progress to report. Schumacher, who initially ended his F1 career at the end of 2006, retired for a second time in 2012 after a three-season comeback with Mercedes. The German, who also raced for Jordan, Benetton and Ferrari, won the last of his world titles in 2004. He won two with Benetton in 1994 and 1995 before moving to Ferrari and winning five in a row from 2000. The 44-year-old has 91 career wins.

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