JERUSALEM, Jan 10: Doctors who gave Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon a medicine that may have helped cause his subsequent stroke, did not know he had a condition making him susceptible to brain haemorrhages, a newspaper said on Tuesday.

The Haaretz daily quoted a doctor close to the case as saying that the disease, known as cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), was diagnosed after Mr Sharon was admitted to hospital last Wednesday with extensive bleeding in the brain.

Mr Sharon was given the blood-thinning medication after he suffered a minor stroke on Dec 18 caused by a blood clot. The drug prevents clots but can cause haemorrhaging, particularly when patients suffer from CAA.

Haaretz said doctors believe the medication ‘led to the subsequent severe haemorrhaging and the prime minister’s current condition’.

The newspaper quoted its source as saying the medication would never have been given to the 77-year-old prime minister after his first stroke if doctors had known he suffered from the brain condition.

CAA is difficult to diagnose through scans and can often only be diagnosed through brain biopsies. The condition is due to deposits in the blood vessels of the brain which make them brittle and likely to burst.

According to experts, the condition becomes increasingly prevalent with old age and is responsible for five to 20 per cent of brain haemorrhages.

Asked about the concerns raised about Mr Sharon’s treatment, Ron Kromer, a spokesman for Hadassah hospital, told reporters: “We are busy treating the prime minister and fighting to save his life. We are not dealing with anything else.”

Doctors have said Ariel Sharon’s condition is critical but stable. They are attempting to bring him out of a medically induced coma to determine the level of brain damage caused by the stroke. —Reuters