Bill Clinton recovering after heart surgery

Former US President Bill Clinton was recovering yesterday after successful heart bypass surgery at a New York hospital, his office said.

"The surgery was successful. The president is now resting comfortably," Mr Clinton's office said in a statement after the five-hour operation at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

The procedure was led by Dr Craig Smith, chief of cardiothoracic surgery and started at about 7 a.m. yesterday.

"He is fine, he came through it OK," a hospital source told Reuters.

Mr Clinton, 58, a Democrat who served eight years in the White House from 1993 until 2001 and was known for his love of fast food, was admitted to the hospital on Friday after complaining of chest pains and shortness of breath.

Mr Clinton's wife, US Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, and daughter, Chelsea, 24, were with him in New York.

The family issued a statement on Sunday on Mr Clinton's website saying this was not the way they had planned to spend the Labor Day holiday weekend.

"While bypass surgery certainly isn't something to look forward to, we are very lucky that the condition was detected in time to have this procedure before something more serious occurred," the statement said.

The family thanked thousands of well-wishers for cards, letters and e-mails received since Mr Clinton was hospitalized.

Still popular despite the sex scandals that dogged his presidency, Mr Clinton, a former governor of Arkansas, has been active over the summer giving speeches and writing and promoting his best-selling memoir, My Life.

With heart disease by far the No. 1 cause of death in the United States, Mr Clinton is not alone in his need for this surgery. More than 500,000 heart bypass operations were performed in the United states in 2001, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.