What was initially thought to be a simple collarbone fracture for Lance Armstrong turned out to be anything but, throwing a serious kink in his plans to race the Giro d'Italia.
Under a second examination by Austin, Texas surgeon Doug Elenz, Armstrong's initial diagnosis was found to be "not correct," said Elenz in a press release from Armstrong's Astana team. The bone was "not in two pieces, but four." Instead of the relatively small plate and screws typically used in clavicle surgery, Armstrong got a five-inch piece of metal over the bone and 12 screws to hold it in place. Elenz characterized it as a complex surgery, an eight on a scale of 1-10, and it took close to three hours.
While Astana manager Johan Bruyneel said yesterday that it was still likely that Armstrong could race the Giro, the extensive surgery means a longer recovery time, casting some doubt on those initial sentiments. (Read more...)
Guest Blogger, Joe
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