Bill Clinton hospitalised with heart problem

Former United States president Bill Clinton has been hospitalised with a heart problem, his office says.

A statement has been issued saying that 63-year-old Clinton received two stents in a coronary artery at a New York hopital.

"Today President Bill Clinton was admitted to the Columbia Campus of New York Presbyterian Hospital after feeling discomfort in his chest," said counsellor Douglas Band in the written statement.

"Following a visit to his cardiologist, he underwent a procedure to place two stents in one of his coronary arteries.

"President Clinton is in good spirits, and will continue to focus on the work of his Foundation and Haiti's relief and long-term recovery efforts," it continued.

A stent is similar to a small tube which is inserted into a clogged artery to widen it and allow blood to flow properly.

Clinton, previously underwent quadruple bypass surgery in 2004 at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. The following year doctors removed scar tissue and fluid build-up from the operation.

With bypass or angioplasty, patients often need another procedure years down the road because arteries often reclog.

"It's not unexpected" for Clinton to need another procedure now, said Dr. Clyde Yancy, cardiologist at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas and president of the American Heart Association.

The sections of arteries and veins used to create detours around the original blockages tend to develop clogs five to 10 years after a bypass, he explained. New blockages also can develop in new areas.

"This kind of disease is progressive. It's not a one-time event, so it really points out the need for constant surveillance" and treating risk factors such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure, he said.

Clinton's legend as a voracious and unhealthy eater was sealed in 1992, when the newly minted presidential candidate took reporters on jogs to McDonald's.

He liked hamburgers, steaks, french fries - lots of them - and was a sloppy eater who could gobble an apple (core and all) in two bites and ask for more.

Two of his favourite Arkansas restaurants were known for their large portions - a hamburger the size of a hubcap and steaks as thick as fists.

He was famously spoofed on Saturday Night Live as a gluttonous McDonald's customer.

Friends and family say Clinton changed his eating habits for the better after his heart attack.

ABC News earlier reported that his wife, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was seen by Capitol Hill source leaving the White House.

It said that she did not seem "too concerned" or "in a rush".

Officials have since said that Hillary Clinton is leaving Washington for New York to be with her husband.

- NZHERALD STAFF / AP