Former President Bill Clinton Has Heart Bypass Surgery

This is Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Health Report.

Former President Bill Clinton is recovering from a major heart
operation on Monday of last week. Mister Clinton had a coronary
bypass operation to improve blood flow to his heart. Doctors at New
York Presbyterian Hospital performed the four-hour operation.

Mister Clinton was hospitalized after suffering chest pains and
shortness of breath the week before. Tests showed he had serious
blockages in four of his coronary arteries. Some were blocked by as
much as ninety percent. Doctors say that without the operation,
Mister Clinton probably would have had a major heart attack in the
near future.

Most arteries carry blood away from the heart. Coronary arteries
supply blood and oxygen to the heart muscle. Doctors perform bypass
operations when these arteries become blocked by cholesterol or
fatty material called plaque.

Doctors take an artery or vein from the patient's chest or leg
and use it to go around, or bypass, a blocked artery. In Mister
Clinton's case, doctors used two arteries from the chest and a vein
from the leg.

During the operation, Mister Clinton's heart was stopped for
seventy-three minutes. Blood flow and breathing are taken over by a
heart-lung machine. That process is used for more than seventy-five
percent of bypass patients. But it carries a small risk of stroke
and nervous system damage.

Some patients with less severe blockages can be treated with
medications. Others can be treated with angioplasty. That is when
doctors expand a balloon-like device inside the arteries to clear
the blockage.

Mister Clinton is fifty-eight years old. He recently lost weight
on a new diet and his cholesterol level dropped. But he had been
experiencing chest pain and shortness of breath for several months.
He says he did not recognize these as warning signs of heart
disease. He thought there were other explanations, like not enough
exercise.

He said part of his heart condition was linked to a family
history of the disease, but part of it was his poor eating habits.
Doctors say Mister Clinton must follow a low-salt, low-fat diet and
take medications to keep his arteries clear.

The American Heart Association says coronary heart disease kills
almost a half-million people a year in the United States. It is the
leading cause of death among Americans.

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Cynthia
Kirk. This is Gwen Outen.