ORANGE : Mayor Recovering After Heart Surgery
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Mayor Gene Beyer underwent successful heart surgery at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage on Monday afternoon to correct blocked arteries.
Dr. Jack Sternlieb, chief of cardiac surgery, said Beyer had a quadruple bypass operation during which a defibrillator was inserted in his abdomen to help him maintain a regular heartbeat.
A quadruple bypass involves surgery on four blocked coronary arteries, using veins and arteries from other areas of the body that are sewn into place to go around the blocked sections. A defibrillator is a battery-powered electronic device that senses life-threatening heart rhythms and shocks the heart into resuming a normal beat.
Sternlieb said Beyer is doing well, was out of bed Tuesday afternoon and ate lunch in a chair.
“We hope to have him out of the hospital in about a week and he should be able to resume his position in about three weeks,” Sternlieb said.
Beyer, 64, was admitted to the hospital with chest pains on Dec. 27, during his vacation. Extensive tests showed that his heart had stopped temporarily, Sternlieb said.
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