Bill Clinton Back Home After Heart Procedure

His doctor says ex-president could be back to work by Monday, four days after having stents inserted into clogged coronary artery

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

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FRIDAY, Feb. 12 (HealthDay News) -- Former President Bill Clinton was said to be "in excellent health" and recovering at his suburban New York City home Friday, one day after he was hospitalized to have two stents inserted into a clogged heart artery.

The 63-year-old Clinton, who underwent quadruple bypass heart surgery in 2004, had been complaining of chest pains before undergoing the procedure Thursday at New York Presbyterian Hospital.

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Clinton adviser Douglas Band said in a statement that Clinton left the hospital "in excellent health," and that he "looks forward in the days ahead to getting back to the work of his foundation, and to Haiti relief and recovery efforts."

Three black SUVs with tinted windows arrived shortly before 8 a.m. Friday at Clinton's gated home in Chappaqua, a hamlet in Westchester County about 35 miles north of New York City, the Associated Press reported.

Dr. Allan Schwartz, chief of cardiology at New York Presbyterian Hospital, said Thursday night that an electrocardiogram and a blood test showed no evidence of a heart attack or heart damage, according to CNN.

Clinton could be back at work as soon as Monday, Schwartz said.

ABC News' chief political correspondent, George Stephanopoulos, who once worked for Clinton in the White House, called his ex-boss a workaholic and said he has worked "20 hours a day for the last 20 years," the network said.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton left Washington, D.C., Thursday and arrived in New York to be with her husband.

Stents are tiny mesh scaffolds or tubes that are used to prop open an artery after it has been unclogged in an angioplasty procedure. In 2004, when clogged arteries first hospitalized Clinton, he underwent quadruple bypass surgery because of four blocked arteries.

Angioplasty, which usually includes placing stents, is a common medical procedure, with more than half a million stents inserted into patients each year in the United States.

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