APRIL 10, 2007

Enge on the mend

Former F1 driver Tomas Enge is on the road to recovery after his heavy accident in the recent American Le Mans Series race at St Petersburg. The Czech driver suffered serious elbow injuries which required reconstructive surgery. He underwent an operation on Friday at Methodist Hospital and then a second operation earlier today. Enge now has two plates and a number of screws in his elbow but hopes to be back in action by July. That may not be easy. Enge will now have two weeks before doctors decide on what he needs to do next to aid his recovery.

"I was very, very pleased with how the elbow came back together again," said surgeon Dr Tim Weber. "Every piece of bone keyed right back together so it is exactly how it was. The most important thing is that the overall boning architecture came back very well so we are off to a good start. We just need to give it time to start healing and then we can start working on how long he will be off the track. His return will be based on how quickly his motion will return. We will start first by getting his motion back and then we can start moving him towards a go-kart. The only remaining treatment will be to radiate the elbow. With this particular injury some of the muscle will turn to bone if left untreated. If the muscle turns to bone it will hurt his range of motion. We will give Tomas a small dose of radiation which will help eliminate that concern."