The urgent medical treatment given to cricketer Phillip Hughes after he was hit in the head with a ball will give him the best chance of recovery, a leading emergency doctor says.
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Batsman Phillip Hughes has undergone surgery at St Vincent's Hospital to a critical head injury suffered at the SCG on Tuesday.
He immediately underwent surgery after arriving at St Vincent's Hospital, with doctors working to relieve pressure to his brain.
Hospital staff said it would not be known how successful the procedure would be for at least 24 hours and Hughes was in a critical condition and in an induced coma.
A St Vincent's Hospital spokesman said on Wednesday morning that Hughes' condition had not changed overnight.
The president of the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine, Anthony Cross, said the hardness of cricket balls make them a common cause of sports injuries at hospital emergency departments - but most injuries are not as serious as that apparently suffered by Hughes because of the full helmets worn during the game.
"The hard ball and the high velocity it is travelling at are more likely to cause injury, but to be honest while we see a lot of cricket injuries most of them are very minor... it is uncommon to get a major head injury and that is basically because of the helmets," he said.
Photographs of the incident appear to show the ball striking Hughes on the back of his head, just below the helmet.
Dr Cross said a high-speed hit from a cricket ball could injure the body in a number of ways.
"The hard ball can obviously break the skin on the surface of the head, which doesn't matter much, unless it fractures the skull," he said. "The skull is the major protective element for the brain, so once that happens you are concerned about injuries underneath."
These could include concussion-type injuries, where the brain is shaken inside the skull, which can be mild or severe, and bruise the brain.
"At the other end of the spectrum the thing people will be worried about is bleeds on the brain," he said. "If there is any major bleeding inside the brain you have the issue of the build-up of blood within the skull, and that blood causes pressure on the brain which can cause further injury.
"Basically you are squeezing the cells, but that increased pressure also prevents the oxygenated blood getting into the brain, and the venous blood from flowing out."
Dr Cross said these types of injuries were usually seen in car and motorbike accidents, or sometimes after alcohol-fuelled violence. They needed urgent scans using a CT scan, and treatment to begin as soon as possible.
"This is one of those things where time is of the essence," he said. "Rapid assessment and appropriate treatment can make a huge difference".
Fairfax Media understands doctors performed CPR on Hughes and placed him on a ventilator before he was taken in a road ambulance to St Vincent's Hospital in Darlinghurst. St Vincent's Hospital has confirmed the batsman suffered life threatening injuries to his head.
