Former President Bill Clinton Leaves Hospital

WASHINGTON (WUSA/AP)-- A close friend says former President Bill Clinton has left the hospital where he underwent a heart procedure.

Former Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe said on CBS' "The Early Show" Friday that Clinton has left New York Presbyterian Hospital. Clinton lives in Chappaqua , a Westchester County hamlet about 35 miles north of New York City.

Cardiologist Allan Schwartz has said Clinton could be back at work as soon as Monday.

Clinton was hospitalized with chest pains Thursday, and received two heart stents at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia Hospital.

His physician, Dr. Schwartz, says since Clinton's quadruple bypass surgery in 2004, the former president has become more active and eats a healthier diet to combat his heart disease.

"His prognosis is excellent. This was not a result of either his lifestyle or his diet, which have been excellent." says Dr. Schwartz.

Follow-up procedures, especially to the blood vessel grafts used in a bypass operation, are sometimes needed, especially a few years later.

Dr. Allan Schwartz explains, "Just as illnesses have natural histories, treatments have histories."

George Washington University Hospital's chief of cardiac catherization Dr. Jonathan Reiner says stents are a minimally invasive way to prop narrowed blood vessels open.

"It is not uncommon for patients years out to develop these narrowings, it is more common the farther you get our from your surgery."

Doctors first thread a tiny tube, or catheter, up to the heart from the patient's groin. Once they locate a blockage, a tiny balloon opens it before the wire stent is deployed.

Dr. Reiner says,"Think of a stent as a stainless steel scaffold, a really mini-scaffold mounted on a balloon."

Sometimes, these stents are coated with medication to keep new scar tissue from forming. Clinton had two stents placed in a major artery, to help resume normal blood flow to the heart muscle.

Following this procedure, Dr. Reiner says, "Most patients go home very quickly, sometimes the next day."

Dr. Reiner's advice: "I would tell a patient such as the former president to take it easy for a few days, but often patients get back to a hectic lifestyle pretty quickly."