Story highlights Doctors say heart surgery on Palestinian leader was successfulAbbas attended funeral of Israeli statesman Shimon Peres in late September(CNN) Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is recovering in a hospital after undergoing heart surgery, his office told CNN on Thursday. Abbas, 81, underwent cardiac catheterization, a process in which a tube is inserted into a large blood vessel that leads to the heart. The procedure is usually performed to find out if a patient has a disease of the heart muscle, valves or coronary arteries, according to the American Heart Association. The surgery was successful and Abbas is now asleep under sedation, say doctors.

Source: CNN October 06, 2016 14:03 UTC