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Sanatorium tight-lipped about Maradona's health

A man stands next to a wall covered by posters left by fans of soccer star Diego Maradona outside the Los Arcos Sanatorium in Buenos Aires on Monday. Maradona, who was rushed to a private clinic on Friday with strong abdominal pains, was being treated by doctors, psychiatrists and nutritionists, the clinic said. PHOTO: AP

Diego Maradona, four days after being hospitalized for abdominal pains, showed signs of improvement on Monday, though doctors said some unspecified lab tests came back outside "normal" limits.

A brief statement issued by the Los Arcos Sanatorium where Maradona was taken on Friday said "the tendency is toward recovery," but did not specify what lab tests were conducted or just what was ailing the soccer hero.

The statement was the first since a medical bulletin on Saturday indicated the 46-year-old former World Cup captain was in stable condition at the private clinic in downtown Buenos Aires.

Maradona, who led Argentina to the 1986 World Cup and is considered one of the all-time greats of the sport, was hospitalized on Friday -- only two days after he was released following a two-week stay at another private clinic.

He spent March 28 to April 11 at the private Guemes Sanatorium in the Argentine capital where he was treated for acute hepatitis, an inflammation brought about by alcohol abuse, doctors said.

At the time, his private physician, Alfredo Cahe, said Maradona was suffering the effects of too much drinking, excessive eating and smoking.

Although Los Arcos has not yet commented on the underlying condition, prominent Argentine daily La Nacion quoted Cahe as saying the former athlete suffered a complication from his hepatitis.

Test results for the liver condition "shot up again and that's not good," Cahe was quoted as telling La Nacion.

But when asked by the newspaper if Maradona had ingested alcohol after last Wednesday's release from the Guemes Sanatorium, Cahe was quoted as saying "no, he didn't consume alcohol ... we are still investigating the cause but can't be sure yet just what happened."

Cahe made no public comments on Friday on Maradona's health and neither confirmed nor denied the La Nacion report.

Los Arcos said on Saturday that Maradona was being treated by a team of doctors, nutritionists and psychologists. He was rushed to the clinic by ambulance on Friday after five hours at a public hospital near his suburban home.

Monday's clinic statement said the "goal of the team support" was to prepare the patient and his relatives for his "continued treatment once he is released."

The hospitalization was the eighth for Maradona in 10 years. He was near death during emergency hospitalizations in 2000 and again in 2004 when he was treated for health complications blamed on a past cocaine addiction his doctors said he later surmounted.
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