Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon could be defined as being in a vegetative state if the prime minister failed to gain consciousness next week, local newspaper Ha'aretz said on Monday.

Sharon, whose doctors began to bring him out of a medically induced coma last week, has shown no significant signs of reviving since he responded to pain stimuli in both sides of his body.

"Few people of Sharon's age have regained consciousness after such a massive stroke as the one the prime minister had,especially after three emergency operations," an expert in intensive care and coma was quoted as saying.

"A patient in a situation like Sharon's will not fully regain consciousness. He may be able to breath alone and will not need equipment, but he will remain severely disabled," the expert said.

After halting Sharon's sedation, doctors on Sunday placed him under general anesthesia in order to perform a tracheotomy -cutting a small opening in the neck and inserting a tube directly into his windpipe.

Up until the operation, Sharon had breathed through a tube in his nostrils with the help of a respirator. But such methods can only be used for a week or two without incurring possible injury.