Arnie back after heart valve surgery
ACTION film actor and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was recovering in a Los Angeles hospital after successful heart valve replacement surgery, says his spokesperson.
Schwarzenegger was in a stable condition, said Daniel Ketchell in a Twitter post.
The 70-year-old native of Austria underwent the planned procedure to replace a pulmonic valve that was originally replaced in 1997 due to a congenital heart defect.
“That 1997 replacement valve was never meant to be permanent and has outlived its life expectancy, so he chose to replace it yesterday through a less invasive catheter valve replacement,” the statement said.
Ketchell said a team of surgeons was standing by “as they frequently are in these circumstances”. The valve was successfully replaced.
The statement didn’t confirm a report by the celebrity gossip website TMZ that complications occurred during the simpler catheter valve replacement procedure and that doctors had to perform emergency open heart surgery.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz wished the former champion bodybuilder a speedy recovery and “much strength”.
In a tweet Kurz said he looked forward to seeing him in Vienna at a meeting on climate change scheduled to take place next month.
Schwarzenegger became famous for his roles in Terminator and Total Recall after his success as a bodybuilder.
He entered politics in 2003 when he was elected governor of California and served two terms.
The 1997 surgery was to replace an aortic valve.
Schwarzenegger said at the time that the condition was congenital and unrelated to his acknowledged use of steroids when he was a bodybuilder. – dpa