Doctors are planning to perform a tracheostomy on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, a surgical procedure that will help wean him off a respirator, a hospital statement said.
The tracheostomy, an incision in the windpipe that forms a temporary or permanent opening, will replace a tube now lodged in the throat of the 77-year-old leader, who suffered a massive stroke on January 4th.
A tracheostomy is routinely performed on many stroke victims to reduce the risk of infection posed by intubation.
"The prime minister's condition continues to remain critical but stable," said a statement issued by Jerusalem's Hadassah hospital, where doctors have been trying, so far unsuccessfully, to rouse Mr Sharon from a medically induced coma.
"This evening the prime minister will undergo a CT test after which he will undergo a tracheostomy. The surgery is aimed at helping to wean him off a respirator machine. It will be conducted in the operating room under general anaesthesia."
Once the tracheostomy is performed, surgeons can connect oxygen and suction tubes to the hole in Mr Sharon's windpipe.
Earlier, political sources said interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert would continue to lead Israel until its March 28th general election, barring a change in the condition of Mr Sharon.
They said Attorney-General Menachem Mazuz planned to declare later in the day that Mr Sharon was in a state of "protracted temporary incapacitation", effectively extending Mr Olmert's tenure as his replacement.
In further consolidation of his potential power, Mr Olmert this week was expected to be named chairman of the centrist Kadima Party, which Mr Sharon formed after quitting the rightist Likud last year to push for peace with the Palestinians.
Opinion polls predict an easy win in the upcoming election for Kadima under Mr Olmert (60), who served as deputy prime minister under Mr Sharon and is also finance minister.