Dierker to Undergo Brain Surgery

Larry Dierker will undergo brain surgery today to remove a mass of malformed blood vessels that caused his seizure in the Houston Astros’ dugout.

The 52-year-old manager spoke with General Manager Gerry Hunsicker on Monday and said he did not recall anything after the second inning of Sunday’s game.

“I talked with Larry this morning, and he was coherent and very positive and encouraged,” Hunsicker said. “He was kind of joking around, but he said the last couple of days he had severe headaches and that was unusual for him.”

Dierker went into violent convulsions in the eighth inning of the game against the San Diego Padres at the Astrodome. Players and coaches restrained him until medical personnel arrived and took him to Methodist Hospital.

Tests Monday revealed he had an arteriovenous malformation--a condition in which people are born with malformed, sometimes tangled, arteries or veins in the brain. Over time, they can become dilated, so that the enlarged vessels either pressure neural tissue or even burst and bleed into the brain.

“That blood vessel mass is what triggered Larry’s seizure,” Hunsicker said.

Hunsicker said he was told by doctors that on a scale of one to five--with one the least serious--Dierker’s condition is a one.