Brasilia, Brazil - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula is showing "progressive improvement" following surgery three weeks ago to stop an intracranial hemorrhage, his doctors said after a hospital check-up scan on Tuesday.

A CT scan of 79-year-old Lula's head showed "significant resorption" of the pocket of blood that had formed between membrane layers, the doctors said in a statement.

They said that indicated "progressive improvement consistent with the excellent condition of the president."

The scan was carried out at the Brasilia unit of the Hospital Sirio-Libanes. The hospital's main facility is in Sao Paulo, and that was where Lula had undergone the emergency surgery on December 10.

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The hemorrhage was linked to a bad fall he suffered on October 19, when he slipped in a bathroom in his presidential residence in Brasilia.

After the surgery, Lula was released from the hospital on December 15 to convalesce a few days in his Sao Paulo private residence, before being given the all-clear on December 19 to return to the capital Brasilia.

His doctors at the time had announced he would be back for the check-up that was carried out on Tuesday.

Since his operation, Lula has been wearing a Panama-style hat in public to cover the bandage and scarring on his head.

He wore the hat in a Christmas Eve broadcast welcoming the get-well wishes he had received during his hospitalization.

Although Lula has cut a vibrant figure on the world stage, his health has been the subject of concern over years. He had successful treatment in 2011 for throat cancer, and a hip replacement operation last year.