Zanardi undergoes neurosurgery for a third time

This 3rd surgery was to reconstruct his badly fractured face

Former Formula One driver, 2-time CART IndyCar champion, and Paralympic champion Alex Zanardi underwent further neurological surgery on Monday after being seriously injured in a handbike accident last month, a Siena hospital statement said.

It was a third operation for the 53-year-old Italian, who remains in a medically-induced coma, after running into an oncoming truck during a handbike race in Siena on June 19th.

The hospital in Siena said Zanardi underwent facial reconstruction surgery for five hours.

“The patient has undergone a new surgery aimed at cranio-facial reconstruction and stabilization of the areas affected by the trauma. The fractures were complex," said Professor Paolo Gennaro, director of the Siena university hospital’s maxillofacial surgery unit, in a statement.

“This required careful programming that made use of computerized, digital and three-dimensional technologies, made to measure of the patient.

“The complexity of the case was rather singular, even if it is a type of fracture that we routinely face in our center."