Clinton to have surgery to drain fluid near lung

NEW YORK – Former President Bill Clinton will undergo surgery Thursday to remove fluid from around his left lung and take out scar tissue that is causing it to accumulate.

The condition, called a pleural effusion, is causing mild pain to the former president and making him winded when he exercises, one of his physicians said at New York-Presbyterian Hospital- Columbia University Medical Center.

It is a rare and not life-threatening complication of open-chest surgery. Clinton, 58, had coronary artery bypass surgery at the hospital on Sept. 6.

“This is an elective procedure. This is not an emergency,” said Allan Schwartz, the former president’s cardiologist.

Clinton, who visited the White House Tuesday afternoon with former President George H.W. Bush to brief President Bush on their efforts to generate donations for tsunami relief programs in south Asia, told reporters, “I feel fine.” He said he expected to be back at work in several weeks. Clinton said he plans to play golf today at a charity event in Florida.

The former president could be hospitalized for as much as 10 days, although his stay is likely to be much shorter, the doctors said.

The procedure will take one to three hours, depending on the amount and location of the scar – called a “peel” – that needs to be removed.

When the surgeons are done, they will temporarily place a plastic tube into Clinton’s chest. One end will be in the “pleural space,” which is between the outside of the lung and inner wall of the chest cavity, and the other end will be in a device resembling a vacuum bottle. Fluid will drain out for several days, and the tube will then be taken out.

The fluid is produced by low-grade inflammation in tissue traumatized by the chest surgery. Clinton’s fluid collection is large enough that it has compressed most of the lower lobe of the left lung. That, in turn, has diminished the amount of lung tissue available for respiration by a little more than 25 percent.