Bret Michaels Released From Hospital, Surgery 'Excellent' Says Doc
Jan. 26 2011, Published 5:25 a.m. ET
Poison rocker Bret Michaels has been released from a Phoenix hospital after undergoing a cardiac catheterization to close a hole in his heart, RadarOnline.com has learned.
“Bret’s procedure had excellent results,” Dr. Mansour Assar, interventional cardiologist at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, said in a statement.
“Because of the successful outcome and Bret’s determination, I believe he will be able to return to normal activity within weeks.”
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Monday's procedure was not an emergency one, but rather a preventative measure doctors decided to take in hopes of reducing the risk of the rocker suffering from blood clots or further strokes, which he's more susceptible to with the hole in his heart.
In the procedure, doctors inserted a catheter into a vein in Michaels' groin, and guided wires into his heart, as well as a closure device that will remain there permanently. The device, doctors said, should cease abnormal blood flow between the two chambers of the singer's heart.
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The 47-year-old Celebrity Apprentice winner was hospitalized on April 21, 2010, following a near-fatal brain hemorrhage and spent nearly two weeks in the hospital.
After a mini-stroke a month later, doctors detected the hole in his heart, known medically as a patent foramen ovale.
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