Tony Blair after catheter ablation fills well

British Prime Minister &to= english.pravda.ru/world/20/91/365/13872_Blair.html ' target=_blank>Tony Blair has had a successful operation for recurrent heart palpitations and is "doing well," Sky TV reported Friday. Sky quoted "unofficial sources" for the information. A spokesman for Blair's Downing Street office said: "We are not giving a running commentary. They have not got that from us." London's Hammersmith Hospital, where Blair was being treated, declined to comment. Blair, 51, announced late Thursday he would be going to hospital for treatment and called the procedure to correct the palpitations "routine." Aides say he will be back at work early next week after an overnight stay at the hospital, reports Reuters. According to the Star, Prime Minister Tony Blair was in the hospital Friday for an operation to correct &to= english.pravda.ru/world/20/91/368/12545_maradona.html ' target=_blank>an irregular heartbeat, an easily treated condition which first surfaced a year ago. Aides refused to comment on precisely what time the 2 1/2-hour procedure called a catheter ablation would take place. But according to Sky News TV, which quoted anonymous sources, Blair had already undergone the treatment by noon and was feeling okay. Blair, 51, looked relaxed as he was driven from his Downing Street residence to Hammersmith Hospital in west London on Friday morning. He was accompanied by his wife Cherie in a green Jaguar official car and told reporters he felt "fine'' as he left home. Announcing the impending treatment in a round of television interviews broadcast late Thursday, he described the operation as "routine.'' "It's a sort of fluttering. It doesn't stop you working, and indeed I've been working the last couple of months since it happened,'' he said. "It's not particularly alarming but it's something that you should get fixed. It's a routine procedure. It's not impeded me doing my work and feeling fine but it is as well to get it done.'' Blair also sought to end months of speculation about his political future and said he intended to serve a full third term in office if successful in upcoming national elections, widely expected to take place next year. But he added that he wouldn't seek a fourth term. British Prime Minister Tony Blair was today admitted to the Hammersmith Hospital in west London for corrective treatment of an irregular heartbeat. Blair's doctor Punit Ramrakha said yesterday that "due to a recurrence of the irregular heartbeat, we have arranged to admit him to hospital to have a procedure known as catheter ablation." In 'catheter ablation', which will take around two and a half hours, a catheter will be fitted to give off pulses of energy to stop his heart "short-circuiting" again. 51-year-old Blair will be under local anaesthetic to treat the "flutters", from which he also suffered last year, informs India News Online.

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