This is Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Health Report.

Former President Bill Clinton is recovering from a major heartoperation on Monday of last week. Mister Clinton had a coronarybypass operation to improve blood flow to his heart. Doctors at NewYork Presbyterian Hospital performed the four-hour operation.

Mister Clinton was hospitalized after suffering chest pains andshortness of breath the week before. Tests showed he had seriousblockages in four of his coronary arteries. Some were blocked by asmuch as ninety percent. Doctors say that without the operation,Mister Clinton probably would have had a major heart attack in thenear future.

Most arteries carry blood away from the heart. Coronary arteriessupply blood and oxygen to the heart muscle. Doctors perform bypassoperations when these arteries become blocked by cholesterol orfatty material called plaque.

Doctors take an artery or vein from the patient's chest or legand use it to go around, or bypass, a blocked artery. In MisterClinton's case, doctors used two arteries from the chest and a veinfrom the leg.

During the operation, Mister Clinton's heart was stopped forseventy-three minutes. Blood flow and breathing are taken over by aheart-lung machine. That process is used for more than seventy-fivepercent of bypass patients. But it carries a small risk of strokeand nervous system damage.

Some patients with less severe blockages can be treated withmedications. Others can be treated with angioplasty. That is whendoctors expand a balloon-like device inside the arteries to clearthe blockage.

Mister Clinton is fifty-eight years old. He recently lost weighton a new diet and his cholesterol level dropped. But he had beenexperiencing chest pain and shortness of breath for several months.He says he did not recognize these as warning signs of heartdisease. He thought there were other explanations, like not enoughexercise.

He said part of his heart condition was linked to a familyhistory of the disease, but part of it was his poor eating habits.Doctors say Mister Clinton must follow a low-salt, low-fat diet andtake medications to keep his arteries clear.

The American Heart Association says coronary heart disease killsalmost a half-million people a year in the United States. It is theleading cause of death among Americans.

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by CynthiaKirk. This is Gwen Outen.