14 January 2011 Last updated at 20:54 ET

Doctors amputate actress Zsa Zsa Gabor's right leg

Doctors said Gabor is in "frail health" after having her right leg amputated

Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor's right leg, which was infected with gangrene, has been amputated in a life-saving surgery her doctors have deemed a success.

She is in "frail health" and will be closely monitored in a Los Angeles hospital, Dr David Rigberg said.

Gabor was hospitalised on 2 January after attempts to save her leg with antibiotics proved unsuccessful.

The 93-year-old has been admitted to hospital a number of times since breaking her hip in July.

"Ms Gabor needed an amputation above her knee due to poor circulation and a large ulcerated area on her right leg," said Dr Rigberg, an associate professor of vascular surgery at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.

"The surgery today went well, however, she is in frail health so we will continue to monitor her closely," he said, adding that after consulting with Ms Gabor's husband, Frederic Prinz von Anhalt, he felt amputation was the best decision.

Multiple hospital visits

Gabor had been hospitalised several times for swelling in her legs and blood clots throughout her body, following a hip replacement surgery this summer.

She was readmitted to hospital in the new year because a wound in her right leg had grown and "wasn't healing any more", her publicist John Blanchette said earlier this month.

Gabor had reportedly been bedridden in recent months.

She was in critical condition and had asked for a priest during a trip to the hospital in August, but Gabor soon recovered and was sent home.

The veteran actress was partially paralysed in a car accident in 2002 and suffered a stroke in 2005, forcing her to use a wheelchair.

Gabor starred in the films Moulin Rouge, Touch of Evil and Queen of Outer Space, among others.