Bill Clinton Says Upcoming Surgery Is 'No Big Deal'

Former President Bill Clinton will return to the operating room this week.

The procedure will be to remove scar tissue and fluid from around the president's heart. The 58-year-old Clinton underwent a quadruple coronary bypass surgery Sept. 6, 2004, after suffering chest pain and shortness of breath.

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According to the president's office, Clinton will be undergoing a medical procedure this week to remove fluid and scar tissue from his left chest cavity.

Clinton said Tuesday that he feels "fine.”

During a visit to the White House -- where he and former President George H.W. Bush reported to the current president on their visit to the region hit by the December tsunami -- Clinton said the procedure is "no big deal." He said he'll be "out of commission" for a week or two. But he said, "As soon as I get it done, I'm going to go back to work."

He pointed out that he felt well enough to tour the tsunami region, and that he's well enough to play golf Wednesday to raise money for tsunami relief.

And former President Bush described Clinton as the "Energizer bunny" as the two ex-presidents went from country to country on their Asian tour. He said whatever Clinton has -- if it's supposed to knock him out, it hasn't done so yet.

The chief of cardiology at the New York hospital where Clinton will be treated is also downplaying the surgery -- saying, "This is not an emergency."

A statement said the procedure, which is a recognized, occasional consequence of open-heart surgery, will happen Thursday at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center.

The former president will remain hospitalized after the procedure for three to 10 days. The procedure is known as a decortication, and will require general anesthesia. His office said that the scar tissue developed as a result of fluid and inflammation causing compression and collapse of the lower lobe of the left lung.

The surgery will be done either through a small incision or with a video-assisted thoracoscope inserted between ribs. The fluid buildup and lung collapse has reportedly caused Clinton some discomfort in recent weeks.

Clinton's office said he has otherwise been in very good condition, recently passed a stress test and is walking up to four miles a day near his home in Chappaqua, N.Y., the statement said.

The risk of the procedure is low, and once fully recovered, Clinton is expected to resume his work without limitations, according to the statement.

In bypass surgery, doctors remove one or more blood vessels from elsewhere in the body and attach them to arteries serving the heart, detouring blood around blockages. The vessel typically comes from elsewhere in the chest, although doctors sometimes take one from an arm, a leg or the stomach.

Clinton previously blamed his blockage in part on genetics -- there is a history of heart disease in his mother's family -- but also said he "may have done some damage in those years when I was too careless about what I ate."

Clinton has been quite active since the heart operation last September. He hosted last fall's opening of his presidential library in Little Rock, Ark.

Most recently, he's been traveling as part of a campaign to help raise private funds for the victims of the south Asia tsunamis.

Dr. Allan Schwartz, chief of cardiology at the hospital, said Clinton had recently passed a full physical before leaving on a trip to Asia last month to survey tsunami damage. He also scored in the 95th percentile for his age in a stress test, Schwartz said.