An operation to replace a faulty aortic valve in ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi's heart went as planned on Tuesday, without any complications, Milan's San Raffaele Hospital said. The media magnate has been transferred to the hospital's intensive care department, the sources said after the open-heart surgery lasting around four and a half hours.
"All went as expected", his personal doctor Alberto Zangrillo, intensive-care chief at the San Raffaele Hospital, said.
Three-time premier Berlusconi was admitted to hospital a last week with a life-threatening condition caused by the valve.
Berlusconi will remain in intensive care for 48 hours. Then the 79-year-old will stay for a week in a suite on the sixth floor of the hospital before starting a month's rehabilitation. Berlusconi's op was said to have been a complete success.
The centre-right Forza Italia leader is expected to be out of the political arena for about a month.
"The operation went well, as you know," Paolo Berlusconi, the ex-premier's brother, said on his way out of Milan's San Raffaele hospital. "I was able to see him. He was breathing normally. We were serene before and we are even more serene now. The surgeons did their duty in the most professional way possible. Now it's up to my brother to finish off the job".
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