Pedrosa undergoes 'complicated' surgery

Repsol Honda MotoGP star Dani Pedrosa underwent surgery on Friday morning in Madrid.

The operation, aimed at fixing the Spaniard's problematic arm pump, took just over two hours with Dr. Angel Villamor - orthopaedic surgeon and Medical Director of iQtra Medicina Avanzada - confident of its success.

During the surgery, Dr. Villamor completely removed the layer of fascia - the casing around the muscle - which has caused the pain in Pedrosa's forearm.

"The surgery was complicated and aggressive using a microsurgery technique and microscopic lens," Dr. Villamor explained. "It lasted two hours, and was done under a local anaesthetic. We examined the muscle fascia, which were hypertrophied and had to be opened up and released. The muscle fascia has been dissected and removed from the forearm.

"This increased volume engorged the muscle within the inelastic fascia resulting in increased pressure within the compartment, and causing a painful condition of oxygen deprivation - thus causing intense pain in the forearm which collapsed after exercising during riding. We will now monitor Dani over the next few weeks to measure the success of this surgery."

This is the third operation Pedrosa has undergone for arm pump problems, having revealed on Sunday night in Qatar that he struggled with the issue all last season after previous surgery did not work.

Doctors had warned Pedrosa that another operation may even make the problem worse, but a dejected Pedrosa made clear in Qatar that something had to be done. Team manager Livio Suppo revealed that a more complicated kind of surgery was one of the few remaining options and that may have been the procedure carried out by Dr. Villamor.

Pedrosa will visit Dr. Villamor regularly in the coming weeks for check ups and then begin a custom physiotherapy program. A recovery time of 4 to 6 weeks is expected, however his return to racing won't be confirmed until Dr. Villamor can ascertain the success of the surgery.

Pedrosa - who dropped from second on the grid to sixth in the season-opening night race - is already confirmed as missing the next two rounds in Texas and Argentina, all but ending his 2015 title chances. Pedrosa is contracted to Repsol Honda until the end of 2016.

HRC test rider Hiroshi Aoyama will ride alongside reigning double world champion Marc Marquez while Pedrosa recovers.