File Photo: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com
After an extensive procedure to correct a malformation in his brain that forced him to drop out of UFC 111, Thiago Alves underwent an intensive, successful medical procedure this week in New York City that promises to get him back into action by summer.
The procedure at Roosevelt Hospital Center on Wednesday separated vessels that had crossed in the left hemisphere of Alves’ brain, according to reports from Sherdog.com and MMAJunkie.com. The condition is called arteriovenous fistula, and be congenital or caused by disease, MMAJunkie.com reported. TMZ.com reported the surgery took eight hours to complete.
Doctors studied Alves’ brain through a catheter with a camera attached that entered through an incision in his groin, Sherdog.com reported. Alves’ trainer Ricardo Liborio said the hope is to get Alves back into training in three weeks for a possible June or July return. Liborio said Alves, 26, will have to be particularly careful in the recuperative period to realize the speediest return.