Doctors say Argentine ex-President Nestor Kirchner leaves ICU, recovery still going smoothly
By APTuesday, February 9, 2010
Argentina’s Kirchner leaves ICU after surgery
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Former Argentine President Nestor Kirchner was out of intensive care Tuesday after emergency surgery on an important artery feeding blood to his brain.
Los Arcos hospital in Buenos Aires in a statement that the 59-year-old Kirchner was transferred to normal care and continued to recover well.
“I expect we will leave the hospital tomorrow,” President Cristina Fernandez, Kirchner’s wife and successor, told reporters.
Doctors decided to operate Sunday after Kirchner had trouble moving his upper left arm, a symptom of problems in one of his carotid arteries. Surgeons removed plaque, a form of cholesterol that can narrow the artery and hinder the flow of oxygenated blood to the brain.
Kirchner, president from 2003 to 2007, is now a deputy in the lower house of congress and has all but declared himself a candidate to seek the top office again in 2011.
