[Online Exclusive]: Chancellor undergoes heart surgery

Chancellor Albert Carnesale, who underwent open heart surgery
Tuesday at the UCLA Medical Center, left the intensive care unit
Wednesday morning and is expected to make a “rapid
recovery,” according to a statement by the chief of cardiac
surgery.

The surgery, an aortic heart valve replacement, is considered to
be a relatively low-risk procedure for a healthy person.

Carnesale said in a Dec. 2 interview that he made the decision
to have surgery after an October physical, though the condition was
diagnosed eight years ago. Carnesale also said he is in otherwise
good health.

The surgery went “very well” and if the
chancellor’s recovery continues as it is now, he will remain
at the hospital for another four to five days, according to Dr.
Hillel Laks, the medical center’s chief of cardiac surgery,
in the statement.

A full recovery usually takes two to three months. Carnesale
said before the surgery that he did not expect it to interfere with
his duties as chancellor.

Carnesale, 69, announced over the summer that he would be
stepping down at the end of the 2005-2006 academic year, though he
has said his heart condition had nothing to do with that
decision.

Compiled by Bruin Senior Staff.

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