Rubino Says Maradona Had 6-Millimeter Brain Shift Before Surgery
Pablo Rubino told the Maradona death trial that Diego Maradona had a 6-millimeter brain displacement before head surgery, a detail he said supported operating on the former football star. He also said Leopoldo Luque was in the operating room and took part in the procedure.
Rubino At San Isidro
The neurosurgeon testified at the 13th hearing of the new oral trial in San Isidro. He said Maradona was due to be admitted for a subdural hematoma in early November 2020 and that he asked for a new tomography before giving his opinion on whether the hematoma could be operated on.
Rubino said the maximum thickness of the hematoma was 14 millimeters according to the team’s calculations. He also said the formal recommendation is to evacuate a chronic subdural hematoma once it exceeds 10 millimeters, and that surgery becomes advisable from 5 millimeters because the brain is already displaced.
Luque In The Operating Room
His testimony added a disputed detail to the account of Maradona’s head surgery. A 2025 trial had established that Luque had not participated in the intervention because Maradona’s family did not allow it and that Rubino performed it, but Rubino said Luque was present and involved.
“Yo a Luque lo conocía del hospital ‘El Cruce’,” Rubino said in his testimony before the judges of the TOC N°7 of San Isidro. He added, “En el quirófano, Luque nos propuso hacer dos equipos: el de él y el mío; que nosotros estuviéramos como back-up.”
Maradona’s Brain Shift
Rubino described the medical reasoning in detail. “El cráneo es una estructura ósea inextensible. Dentro de él hay 80% de tejido cerebral, 10% de sangre y líquido cefalorraquídeo, por lo que cualquier aumento de volumen, ya sea por un tumor o un hematoma, genera un problema de espacio. Eso produce una disminución del flujo sanguíneo y del oxígeno, y termina desplazando el cerebro. Diego tenía un desplazamiento de 6 milímetros y, a partir de los 5 milímetros, ya es recomendable operar,” he said.
He also said the non-sterile first part of the surgery, including the preparations, was done by Luque. The surgery came about 20 days before Maradona died, keeping the focus of the trial on who took part in the operation and what the medical files showed before the first incision.
