Former US President Bill Clinton has undergone a five-hour quadruple heart bypass operation to relieve clogged arteries. This report from Jeremy Cooke:

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The former president's medical team emerged from five hours in the operating theatre and declared themselves satisfied with their day's work. The operation had gone well they said. Mr Clinton, though still groggy from his anaesthetic, had regained consciousness and begun his recovery in the hospital's intensive care unit. The chief surgeon was Dr Craig Smith:

Dr Smith:

Starting this morning around eight o'clock he had a relatively routine quadruple bypass operation.We left the operating room around noon and he is recovering normally at this point. So I think right now everything looks straightforward.

Jeremy Cooke:

Reporters were told that some of the blood vessels in Mr Clinton's heart had been 90 per cent blocked prior to the operation and that without the procedure it was likely that he would have suffered a substantial heart attack. The quadruple bypass operation used blood vessels from the chest and leg to restore cardiac circulation. The hospital's chief of cardiology, Allan Schwartz, told reporters that the success of the procedure meant that given, the correct care, Mr Clinton would expect a full recovery. In a statement, Mr Clinton's wife, Senator Hilary Clinton, said that she and the couple's daughter, Chelsea, wanted to thank God and what she described as an 'incredible' medical team for the successful outcome of the operation.

Jeremy Cooke, BBC, New York

Listen to the words

operating theatre
a room in a hospital where surgeons carry out operations

groggy
if you feel groggy, you feel weak and ill

anaesthetic
a drug that is used during operations to stop pain

regained consciousness
if you have regained consciousness it means you are awake again and not unconscious

intensive care unit
hospitals have intensive care units to look after people who are very seriously ill

quadruple bypass operation
a quadruple bypass operation is one in which surgeons use veins from other parts of the body to replace the blocked parts of four of the arteries supplying blood to the heart

blocked
if something is blocked it means nothing can get past

heart attack
a heart attack is when the heart begins to beat irregularly or stops completely

cardiac circulation
the flow of blood around the heart

full recovery
to recover completely from an illness

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