George W. Bush undergoes heart procedure

U.S. President George W. Bush smiles while addressing supporters at a Republican party rally in Springfield, Missouri, November 2006.

Former President George W. Bush had stent surgery for a blocked artery Tuesday. Doctors say the procedure went smoothly with no complications.

DALLAS — Former President George W. Bush, 67, a fitness enthusiast whose presidency was shaped by the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, underwent successful surgery at a Dallas hospital on Tuesday to place a stent in a blocked heart artery.

Doctors discovered the blockage on Monday during Bush's annual physical at the Cooper Clinic in Dallas, according to a statement from spokesman Freddy Ford.


Doctors recommended a stent to open the blockage, and he underwent surgery on Tuesday morning at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, the statement said.

The former president was "in high spirits, eager to return home tomorrow and resume his normal schedule on Thursday," Ford said.

Bush was known as a fitness enthusiast during his two terms in the White House, from 2001 to 2009, and liked to run before knee pain led him to do more bicycling.

Since leaving the White House, Bush has participated three times in the 100-kilometer (62-mile) Warrior 100K bike ride along with 20 wounded military veterans.

As president, he introduced the Adult Fitness Challenge and the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award. The website AskTheTrainer.com named him the most physically fit president in U.S. history.