Stewart undergoes angioblasty surgery
X-Men and Star Trek star Patrick Stewart is recovering in Los Angeles after undergoing an angioplasty procedure earlier this week to widen an artery.
Angioplasty involves the use of a catheter to place a small inflatable balloon in a narrowed blood vessel. When the balloon is inflated, the artery flows more freely.
Stewart, aged 64, who played Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men film and its sequel and Capt Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation, went for an annual check-up on Monday, according to his publicist Kelly Bush.
Doctors detected a blood-flow problem and recommended ”pre-emptive angioplasty” to head off any future ailments.
Bush described the procedure as a success and said Stewart was resting before returning to work next week, where he plans to finish the upcoming movie The Game Of Their Lives. He also will start voiceover work on the Fox TV animated series American Dad.
However, Stewart’s recovery will force him to miss a planned appearance in Toronto today, where he was due to visit a Canadian sci-fi festival.
