Giffords to Undergo Brain Surgery

The Houston Chronicle reports

Houston neurosurgeons Wednesday will restore a missing piece of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' skull that left nearly half of her brain exposed during four months of rehabilitation from a gunshot wound, sources told the Houston Chronicle Tuesday.

Dr. Dong Kim and a team at the Memorial Hermann Hospital System will install the piece, a key step in the congresswoman's recovery from a January assassination attempt. The procedure will come four months after Arizona doctors removed part of her skull to relieve pressure that would have caused greater damage to her swelling brain.

The surgery has been anticipated for months. Memorial Hermann doctors talked about it as far back as Jan. 21, when Giffords was transferred from Tucson to Houston, and her chief of staff, Pia Carusone, said Monday it was the congresswoman's "next medical hurdle."