Home>News Center>World
         
 

Clinton recovering after bypass surgery
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-09-07 14:18

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton was recovering after a quadruple heart bypass operation to relieve arteries so severely clogged that they posed imminent danger of a major heart attack.

His heart disease was extensive, with blockages in some arteries "well over 90 percent," said Dr. Craig R. Smith, the surgeon who led the four-hour operation at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia on Monday.


Dr. Craig R. Smith, chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic surgery at the New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center uses a model of a human heart to explain to reporters the heart bypass surgery he performed on former U.S. President Bill Clinton, Monday, Sept. 6, 2004, in New York.[AP]

"There was a substantial likelihood that he would have had a substantial heart attack," said Dr. Allan Schwartz, chief of cardiology. Doctors called Clinton's operation successful and said his return to full health will take weeks.

The former president also had high blood pressure and may not have been adequately treated for high cholesterol. His doctors said he was put on a cholesterol-lowering drug a few days ago. Clinton was prescribed cholesterol medicine in 2001 as he was leaving office.


This 31 May,1999, file photo shows then US President Bill Clinton. Clinton was admitted to a New York City hospital 03 September, 2004, where he will undergo heart bypass surgery.  [AFP/File]
"These past few days have been quite an emotional roller-coaster for us," Clinton's wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, said in a statement. "The president's optimism and faith will carry him through the difficult weeks and months ahead — of that we have no doubt."

The 58-year-old former president went to the hospital late last week after complaining of chest pain and shortness of breath, but doctors revealed Monday that he'd had these symptoms for several months. They said he had blamed them on lapses in his exercise routine and acid reflux.

It was finally discovered that the problem was his heart after one episode occurred while he was resting and lasted longer than before, they said. Clinton could leave the hospital in four or five days.

In bypass surgery, doctors remove one or more blood vessels from elsewhere in the body — in Clinton's case, two arteries from the chest and a vein from the leg — and attach them to arteries serving the heart, detouring blood around blockages.

Schwartz said it would be possible for Clinton in the future to lead an "extraordinarily active lifestyle" — including hitting the campaign trail to promote Democrats running this year.

Dr. W. Randolph Chitwood, chief cardiovascular surgeon at East Carolina University and a spokesman for the American College of Cardiology, agreed with Clinton's doctors that the president had been in a dangerous state leading up to the operation.

"Within the next couple of weeks, something was going to happen," he said.


Former US President Clinton jogs in Washington in this Sept. 15, 1994 file photo. Clinton had a successful quadruple heart bypass operation Monday, Sept. 6, 2004 to relieve clogged arteries, three days after checking himself into the hospital complaining of chest pain and shortness of breath. [AP/File]
Doctors delayed surgery until Monday because Clinton was on the blood-thinning medication Plavix, and waiting a few days decreased the chance of excessive bleeding, they said.

During the operation, Clinton's heart was stopped and he was put on a heart-lung machine for 73 minutes. That process, used for more than 75 percent of bypass patients, carries a small risk of stroke and neurological complications.

Clinton was described as upbeat in the days before the surgery, resting with his wife and daughter. One New York Post photo showed the former president reaching for a Boggle game near his hospital room window.

Clinton has blamed his heart problems in part on genetics — there is a history of heart disease in his mother's family — but also said he "may have done some damage in those years when I was too careless about what I ate."

He was lampooned during his presidency for his inability to resist fatty fast food, but he was also an avid jogger during his two terms in the White House. In recent months he has appeared much slimmer. He has said he cut out junk food, begun working out and adopted the low-carbohydrate, low-fat South Beach diet.

Clinton had planned to campaign for Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic nominee for president, but the recovery from surgery will take him off the stump — at least for now — with just two months left until the election.

More than 45,000 get-well wishes have poured in for Clinton, including tens of thousands of e-mails sent to the Web site of his presidential library.

"You are surrounded by cherished family, friends and a nation that adores you and prays for your full and complete recovery," wrote Toni Maryanna Rossi. "You'll be jogging 5 miles a day in no time."



 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

China's new traffic law drives into hot dispute

 

   
 

90 dead, 77 missing in southwest storms

 

   
 

Clinton has successful quadruple bypass

 

   
 

Civil servants' study allowance sparks debate

 

   
 

Hong Kong celebrates with Olympic stars

 

   
 

China invites bidding on nuclear power plants

 

   
  Clinton recovering after bypass surgery
   
  Official campaign opens in Afghan presidential poll
   
  Explosions in Gaza kill at least 13
   
  Russia buries its children as fury mounts
   
  Kerry slams 'wrong war in the wrong place'
   
  Powerful typhoon hits southern Japan
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Related Stories  
   
Clinton has successful quadruple bypass
   
Clinton likely to have surgery Monday
  News Talk  
  Are the Republicans exploiting the memory of 9/11?  
Advertisement
         
主站蜘蛛池模板: 日韩人妻无码一区二区三区久久99 | 日本国产在线视频| 亚洲色欲色欲综合网站| 色视频www在线播放国产人成| 国产精品区一区二区三 | 三上悠亚ssni409在线看| 日韩精品在线看| 亚洲欧洲春色校园另类小说| 精品国产三级a∨在线观看| 国产国语对白露脸| 67194成手机免费观看| 婷婷久久香蕉五月综合| 久久久久高潮毛片免费全部播放| 欧美影院一区二区三区| 人妻少妇精品视频专区| 羞羞漫画登录页面免费| 国产成人久久精品区一区二区| 91天堂素人精品系列网站| 小说区综合区首页| 久久99精品国产自在现线小黄鸭 | 99自拍视频在线观看| 成人国产一区二区三区| 久久国产视频网| 欧美aaaaa| 亚洲欧美一区二区三区在线| 男女很舒服爽视频免费| 啊灬啊灬别停啊灬用力啊| 高贵娇妻被多p| 国产精品538一区二区在线| 97在线观看视频| 妲己高h荡肉呻吟np| 中日韩精品无码一区二区三区| 日韩美女性生活视频| 亚洲国产午夜电影在线入口| 特黄特色大片免费播放器999| 午夜视频免费观看| 色噜噜亚洲精品中文字幕| 国产成人精品999在线观看| 18分钟处破好疼哭视频在线| 坤廷play水管| pornocolombianovideosjapan|