Wings Player Out Of Coma

Detroit Red Wings defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov has emerged from a five-week coma and is showing signs of recovery, doctors said Wednesday.

But he still can’t communicate, spends many hours a day asleep or in an unresponsive state and faces months of hospitalization, doctors said at a news conference at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak.

“He’s become much more aware of his environment,” said Dr. Karol Zakalik, a Beaumont neurosurgeon. “He’s more alert, but he’s not fully conscious yet.”

Zakalik said it would be accurate to call Konstantinov semiconscious. People in such a state still don’t respond to others consistently or show awareness of loved ones and others on a regular basis.

Team masseur Sergei Mnatsakanov, injured with Konstantinov in a June 13 limousine crash, has made more progress than Konstantinov since the accident, doctors said. He is fully conscious, has weakness in his legs but is not paralyzed, and blows kisses, mouths words and makes single-syllable sounds to his wife, Zakalik said.

The condition of both men has been upgraded from serious to fair, and they will be moved in the next few days to the rehabilitation unit in the hospital. Patients “have to make sufficient progress” to be moved out of intensive care to the unit, said Beaumont trauma surgeon Dr. James Robbins.

Asked whether either man will be able to talk, walk or feed himself in six months, Robbins said: “I’m hopeful we’ll get there.”

Dr. Sherry Viola, a rehabilitation specialist, said teams will work with each man to help them recover physical, mental, speech and other capabilities. Asked how long she expected the men to be hospitalized, she said, “We’re looking at months of hospitalization.”

It’s too soon to predict a full recovery, but Zakalik said both men no longer were at a serious risk of death or relapsing into a vegetative state.