Arnold Schwarzenegger underwent surgery on Tuesday to repair the leg he broke while skiing with family in Idaho over the weekend.
LOS ANGELES: California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger underwent surgery on Tuesday to repair the leg he broke while skiing with family in Idaho over the weekend, a spokeswoman for his office said.
A medical team led by orthopedic surgeon Dr Kevin Ehrhart, who once performed hip surgery on former US President Ronald Reagan, began operating on Schwarzenegger's right leg on Tuesday morning, spokeswoman Sabrina Lockhart said.
The operation to repair a fracture to the upper portion of his thigh bone, known as the femur, was expected to take less than two hours, she said.
The name of the California hospital where the Republican governor was admitted was undisclosed for security reasons.
Schwarzenegger, 59, an Austrian-born former bodybuilder and Hollywood action star, was elected governor in 2003 in a special recall campaign that ousted Gray Davis, then the Democratic incumbent.
In a statement issued by Schwarzenegger's office on Monday, Ehrhart described the operation to repair the governor's leg as "relatively common surgery" involving the insertion of orthopedic cables and screws to help the bone heal.
He said the Republican governor would be placed under general anesthesia during the procedure, and that he would remain hospitalised for three days for observation. Schwarzenegger will use crutches after the operation and should take about eight weeks to recover, the surgeon said.
While Schwarzenegger was under anesthesia, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, a Democrat who ran against Schwarzenegger in the 2003 recall election, assumed the role of acting governor.
Schwarzenegger, who is married to veteran broadcast journalist Maria Shriver, niece of the late US President John F. Kennedy, broke his leg during a family vacation while skiing in Sun Valley, Idaho, on Dec. 23.
It was the governor's third medical incident in just over a year. In January, he received 15 stitches to close a cut lip after colliding with a car while riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycle in Los Angeles.
Last December, Schwarzenegger was examined at the University of California-Davis Medical Center for stomach flu and a rapid heartbeat. He was back at work the next day. Schwarzenegger underwent heart surgery in 1997.
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