Sharon’s brain scan shows ‘positive indication’

A brain scan performed on former prime minister Ariel Sharon showed “positive indications,” former Sharon aide Raanan Gissin told AFP on Friday.

“The test was routine, but the results not entirely so,” Gissin said. “There was some kind of positive indication.”

He said that he had no further details.

Inbar Gutter, spokeswoman for Soroka Hospital in Beersheba, said Friday that the comatose Sharon underwent a special brain imaging scan at the hospital the previous night.

After a few hours, Sharon was returned to Tel Hashomer Hospital in central Israel, where he is being cared for, hospital spokesman Amir Marom said. Officials said the scan was previously scheduled but would not comment on the results.

Israeli media report that the scan seeks to determine if Sharon’s condition can be improved. Hospital officials would not comment on that claim.

Sharon, 84, led Israel from 2001 until suffering a stroke in 2006. Since then, he has been in a vegetative state, connected to a respirator.