Silvio Berlusconi will undergo heart surgery next week for a defective aortic valve, a problem that could have killed him, the former Italian premier's doctor said on Thursday.
"A series of cardiovascular checks enabled us to identify a severe aortic insufficiency," Berlusconi's personal physician Alberto Zangrillo told reporters in Milan.
"There is only one way to correct this - to substitute the aortic valve."
"Berlusconi's life was in danger, he risked dying," Zangrillo stated, adding that the 79-year-old had accepted his diagnosis "with great courage and determination".
At least 10 percent of patients with disease of the aortic valve die within a year unless they are operated on, Zangrillo stated.
He said the operation will last around four hours and will be performed by Ottavio Alfieri, a heart surgeon at Milan's San Raffaele hospital, where Berlusconi was admitted earlier this week.
Berlusconi will then spend a couple of days in intensive care before being transferred to a ward to undergo rehabilitation for about a month, Zangrillo said.
"He'll then be able to do whatever he likes," Zangrillo said.
The billionaire media mogul was hospitalised on Tuesday with 'cardiac deficiency' after feeling unwell at the weekend. His Forza Italia party attributed the heart problem to the stress of campaigning for local elections held on Sunday.
Berlusconi had a pacemaker fitted in a hospital in the United States when he was 70.
The leader of Italy's centre-right, Berlusconi has held the office of prime minister a record four times, the last being from May 2008 to November 2011, but his political influence has declined since he left government.
