Blair back home after op

2004-10-01 20:50

London - Prime Minister Tony Blair arrived home on Friday after undergoing a successful operation to correct an irregular heartbeat.

The London hospital which treated him said the risk of recurrence was very low, and that Blair was expected to make a rapid and complete recovery.

"I'm absolutely fine thanks. The hospital staff, the nurses, the doctors were brilliant," said Blair, grinning at reporters as he arrived back at his Downing Street residence.

Hammersmith Hospital in west London said it expected the 51-year-old prime minister to make a "rapid and complete recovery."

"We consider the risk of recurrence of the problem to be very low. The procedure was successful in eliminating the atrial flutter," it said in a statement.

Blair's heart condition - supraventricular tachycardia - is caused by rapid electrical activity in the upper parts of the heart and results in a sometimes irregular, rapid heartbeat.

The procedure, which medical experts described as safe and routine, involved a local anaesthetic and the insertion of a catheter through the groin and up to the heart, where radio-frequency energy is used to kill off the cells conducting the extra impulses.

Aides have stressed that Blair will be back at his desk on Monday and intends to go ahead with a planned trip to Africa on Tuesday.

Blair's heart condition first came to public attention a year ago when he was treated at a London hospital for a rapid, irregular heartbeat.

On that occasion, he returned to work a day later, defying doctors' orders to take 24 hours rest.

- AP