Doctors at a Jerusalem hospital said today that 77-year-old Ariel Sharon will undergo a minor operation next month to close a small hole in his heart.
The operation - which is carried out via a cardiac catheterisation - is a quite similar procedure to the one Tony Blair underwent in 2004 after suffering heart flutters. Both involve sending a long, thin wire into the skin through the patient's veins until it reaches the heart. In Mr Blair's case, the area causing the rhythm disturbance was treated with a current of energy.
For the Israeli prime minister, the catheter will be used to seal a tiny hole in his heart that was discovered after his stroke last week.
Local anaesthetic is used to numb the area (usually the thigh) where the catheter is inserted and the patient often feels nothing except a possible skipped heartbeat. However, Mr Sharon will receive a general anaesthetic for the procedure.
Both Mr Sharon's doctors and George Bush have urged him to go on a diet for the sake of his political career. The prime minister weighed 118 kilos at the time of his stroke and joked that the Israeli security services had not found a bullet-proof vest large enough to fit him. He has already lost three kilos and invited Israelis to join him in resisting the fatty temptations available during the Jewish festival of Hanukah.
