Arnold Schwarzenegger has undergone heart surgery, according to his spokesman, Daniel Ketchel.
The actor and former California governor had a procedure to replace a catheter valve on Thursday at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles, Ketchel said in a statement Friday.
“Governor 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,” Ketchell said in the statement. “That 1997 replacement valve was never meant to be permanent, and has outlived its life expectancy, so he chose to replace it yesterday through a less-evasive catheter valve replacement.”
An open-heart surgery team was prepared in case the procedure was unable to be performed, according to Ketchel. It was, however, successfully replaced, and Schwarzenegger is recovering.
Upon waking from his procedure, Schwarzenegger said, “I’m back,” Ketchell told The Washington Post.
“So he is in good spirits,” Ketchell added.
Read Ketchell’s entire statement below.
My statement on Governor @Schwarzenegger’s procedure. pic.twitter.com/7RoVtHN43c
— Daniel Ketchell (@ketch) March 30, 2018