Dani Pedrosa undergoes successful shoulder surgery

Spaniard Dani Pedrosa has commenced his battle to be 100 per cent fit for the next MotoGP race in Estoril after undergoing successful surgery on his left shoulder in Barcelona.

The triple world champion opted for surgery immediately after his second place in last weekend’s dramatic Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez to cure a recurring numbness issue in his left arm and hand.

Pedrosa has been severely hampered by the issue since he badly damaged his shoulder in a practice crash for the Japanese MotoGP race last October.

The problem surfaced again during the opening round to the 2011 campaign in Qatar and saw the Repsol Honda rider unable to maintain his pursuit of eventual winner Casey Stoner.

Pedrosa has his operation at the Teknon Medical Centre to decompress his left subclavian artery and is expected to recover satisfactorily.

A statement from the Repsol Honda squad said: ‘The intervention was performed by Dr. César García-Madrid, vascular surgeon, and Dr. Joaquim Casañas, trauma and orthopaedic surgeon, both specialists at Teknon.

‘In order to release the arterial compression, the titanium plate and the screws fixed to the collarbone (after the Twin Ring Motegi crash) have been removed. The subclavian artery has also been separated from the fibrotic tissues that surrounded costoclavicular space.

‘At the same time, intraoperative angiography by minimally invasive transfemoral approach confirmed the return of the subclavian flow.

The medical checks performed last week at Institut Vascular Sala Planell, including several physical tests and four dimensional CT with contrast in specific positions, confirmed that the symptoms of pain, numbness and lack of strength in Dani’s left arm were due to compression of the subclavian artery secondary to the collarbone fracture.”

Pedrosa will remain in hospital for a further 48 hours to continue treatment with analgesia and anti-inflammatories. Next week he will visit the doctors again to determine his help him regain fitness ahead of the Estoril race in Portugal on May 1st.