Granato Shows No Problems During Recovery

Less than 24 hours after having surgery to remove an abnormal cluster of blood vessels in the left temporal lobe of his brain, King right wing Tony Granato was able to sit up, eat and speak with relatives Thursday in the intensive care unit of the UCLA Medical Center in Westwood.

Granato’s condition was upgraded from serious--the standard classification for patients after such an operation--to stable. He is progressing normally “or a bit faster,” according to Neil Martin, who performed the four-hour procedure Wednesday, and has shown no signs of impaired speech or memory loss.

“To talk to him at his bedside, he seems normal,” Martin said. “But in the future, we’ll have to do more specific testing to make sure [there is no permanent damage]. So far, he looks good.”

However, it is unclear whether Granato, who is 31 and the father of four, will be able to resume his career.

“It’s safe to say this season is over for Tony,” said Martin, a neurosurgeon who specializes in vascular problems. “As far as the future, this is an area where we don’t have a lot of precedent. We’re going to have to be very conservative concerning his return. It will depend on what we see after further testing, and primarily, his personal feeling about returning.”

Granato will stay in the hospital four to seven days. He was moved out of intensive care and into a private room late Thursday. He is unable to receive visitors, but his sister, Christina, told King spokesman Rick Minch her brother hopes to be strong enough to greet his teammates in a few days. The family has requested that calls be directed to the Kings’ public relations department.

Granato, who ranks among the Kings’ top scorers with 17 goals and 35 points, began experiencing severe headaches several days after he was checked and fell headfirst into the boards during a game at Hartford Jan. 25. He played on Jan. 27 against the Mighty Ducks at the Forum, but the headaches prompted him to seek treatment at Centinela Hospital on the morning of Jan. 29.

He was treated, put on medication and released. When follow-up tests last Monday found continued bleeding into the brain, doctors determined surgery was necessary.

“Our current belief is that it was a congenital vascular malformation,” Martin said. “It’s not terribly uncommon. Bleeding from those sorts of things can happen to people who are not engaged in contact sports. It can happen to a person who’s asleep. But a particularly hard hit may have contributed to the leakage of blood.”

Martin said an operation such as this is curative, meaning the problem is not expected to recur. He said Granato will undergo an angiogram and an MRI scan to make sure all the abnormal vessels were removed.

“Tony himself has been absolutely cool,” Martin said. “When we explained the situation, he realized what the problem was and had no hesitancy about going forward. His attitude is very positive. He’s very happy the surgery went well.”

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Granato’s Surgery

A four-hour procedure was performed Wednesday to remove an intracerebral hematoma--blood clot within the brain tissue--from Tony Granato’s left temporal lobe. The surgery was performed by Dr. Neil Martin at UCLA Medical Center.