Italian former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's girlfriend Francesca Pascale was said to be with him in intensive care on Tuesday at a Milan hospital after surgeons replaced his aortic valve in a four-hour operation.
Berlusconi, 79, will remain under sedation for around 24 hours at Milan's San Raffaele hospital, and will remain in intensive care until Wednesday, the hospital said.
The billionaire media tycoon, founder and leader of the centre-right Forza Italia party, was admitted to the San Raffaele on 6 June with a life-threatening condition caused by the faulty aortic valve.
Berlusconi had a pacemaker fitted in a hospital in the United States when he was 70 but has remained at the helm of Forza Italia, which is currently in opposition.
