Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will have heart surgery to correct a defective valve after a heart attack his doctor says could have killed him.
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Doctors say Berlusconi is suffering a serious case aortic insufficiency and will undergo surgery to replace the valve.
Mr Berlusconi, who has a pacemaker, reported heart irregularities on Sunday from Rome and Dr Zangrillo advised him to return to Milan to be checked.
After the news of the diagnosis sank in, he “showed great courage and determination” and “put his complete trust in us”, Zangrillo said, adding that he should have fully recovered from the surgery within a month.
His personal doctor revealed in a press conference this evening that “he was close to death: he arrived in a very serious, very worrying condition, and he knew it”.
The operation carries a 2-per-cent mortality risk, but if Berlusconi had refusde it he would face a one-in-ten chance of dying before the end of the year, the doctor added.
Berlusconi, 79, was admitted to San Raffaele Hospital in Milan on Tuesday and has since undergone examinations on a heart problem.
The billionaire and media mogul no longer holds public office as the result of a 2013 tax fraud conviction.
The billionaire’s medical history also includes a 1997 operation to remove prostate cancer.
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Berlusconi’s condition was “nothing to worry about”, his party said.
