via:CNN.Com
(CNN) — Former President Bill Clinton was hospitalized Thursday in New York, where he underwent a procedure to insert two stents into one of his coronary arteries after experiencing chest pain, his office said.
Clinton, 63, “was admitted to the Columbia Campus of New York Presbyterian Hospital after feeling discomfort in his chest,” said Douglas Band, counselor to the former president, in a written statement.
The hospital confirmed that Clinton was admitted Thursday.
“President Clinton is in good spirits, and will continue to focus on the work of his Foundation and Haiti’s relief and long-term recovery efforts,” Band’s statement said.
The White House was told of the situation, a source close to the former president told CNN.
A stent is a tiny tube that is inserted into a narrowed or blocked vessel to open it up and allow blood to travel through, according to CNN’s chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta.
Clinton underwent quadruple bypass surgery in 2004 at New York-Presbyterian. Doctors in 2005 removed scar tissue and fluid that had built up following that surgery.
In recent weeks, Clinton was overseeing the United Nations aid mission in Haiti after a earthquake struck there on January 12.
