President Clinton's surgical procedure successful

On Thursday, former President Bill Clinton underwent a surgical procedure to remove scar tissue and fluid from his left
chest cavity.


The surgery - called decortication - was deemed a success by his medical team at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia
University Medical Center.


Patients typically "make a full recovery and have no limitations in the future," according to Hartzell Schaff, M.D.,
professor of surgery, Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minn., and an American Heart Association spokesperson.


Decortication is the removal of scar tissue and fluid build from the chest cavity. Fluid build up in the chest cavity - a
condition called pleural effusion - can be a complication of coronary artery bypass surgery. Clinton had quadruple bypass
surgery in September.


About 5 percent to 10 percent of heart bypass surgery patients develop pleural effusion, Schaff said. Most of the time, the
body reabsorbs the fluid. However, fluid can been removed with a needle.


If the fluid buildup is chronic, scar tissue can form a wall around a portion of the lung and interfere with lung expansion.
This may cause the patient to experience shortness of breath. Less than one percent of heart bypass patients who develop
pleural effusion require surgery to correct it, Schaff said.


A 2002 study in the New England Journal of Medicine noted that pleural effusion in the United States occurs in 60,000
coronary artery bypass surgery patients annually.


Pleural effusion requiring surgical correction rarely reoccurs.


Media Advisory - American Heart
Association

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