JERUSALEM, Jan. 7 (Xinhuanet) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's brain swelling has been slightly eased, but he remained in critical condition, doctors said at a news briefing on Saturday.

   Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, director of Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital, said the latest brain scan showed that there was slight improvement from the previous one, but Sharon remained in serious condition.

   "Intracranial pressure is normal, and pulse and blood pressure are normal. These measurements indicate stability,"  Mor-Yosef told reporters outside the hospital.

   He added that the CT scan showed that the condition of the left part of Sharon's brain was better than the right part.

   However, he declined to rule out that threat to the prime minister's life has passed.

   Sharon took a procedural CT scan Saturday morning to check for internal bleeding and examine intracranial pressure following the surgical intervention.

   Mor-Yosef said Hadassah specialists will meet Sunday morning to discuss whether to wake him up from a medically induced coma to determine the extend of damage caused to his functioning.

   Sharon, 77, was rushed to the hospital Wednesday night for a major stroke, and he underwent an emergency surgery earlier Saturday to stem bleeding in his brain, the third surgery within two days.

   Israelis have kept a nationwide vigil for Sharon, under whose disengagement plan, Israel ended its 38 years of occupation in the Gaza Strip by withdrawing soldiers and some 8,500 settlers from all settlements in the tiny coastal strip.

   Medical experts believed that even if Sharon survived the stroke, it would be extremely unlikely he would return to work. Enditem