Arnold Schwarzenegger is in a stable condition after undergoing heart surgery on Thursday, his spokesperson has confirmed.
The 70-year-old actor underwent surgery for a catheter valve replacement on Thursday at the Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles, American showbiz website TMZ first reported.
A source told the website that Schwarzenegger developed complications during the procedure when the valve replacement failed and had to have emergency open-heart surgery.
However, Daniel Ketchell, Schwarzenegger's spokesperson said that although an open-heart surgery team had attended the operation, they were only there as a precaution.
The spokesperson said that the procedure was a success and that Schwarzenegger is currently recovering from the surgery in the hospital.
My statement on Governor @Schwarzenegger’s procedure. pic.twitter.com/7RoVtHN43c
— Daniel Ketchell (@ketch) March 30, 2018
Ketchell said in a statement on Twitter: "Yesterday, Gov. Schwarzenegger underwent a planned procedure at Cedars-Sinai to replace a pulmonic valve that was originally replaced due to a congenital heart defect in 1997. That 1997 replacement valve was never meant to be permanent and has outlived his life expectancy, so he chose to replace it yesterday through a less-invasive catheter valve replacement."
He continued: "During that procedure, an open heart surgery team was prepared, as they frequently are in these circumstances, in case the catheter procedure was unable to be performed. Gov. Schwarzenegger's pulmonic valve was successfully replaced and he is currently recovering from the surgery and is in stable condition. We want to thank the entire medical team for their tireless efforts."
Ketchell later tweeted that the actor is awake and in "good spirits" following the surgery and claimed Schwarzenegger’s first words upon waking from the operation were "I’m back".
Update: @Schwarzenegger is awake and his first words were actually "I’m back", so he is in good spirits. https://t.co/bJ4pxqS8l6
— Daniel Ketchell (@ketch) March 30, 2018
The action star and former Governor of California first went under the knife for heart surgery when he had an aortic valve replaced in 1997.
