JERUSALEM, Dec 26: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is to return to hospital early next month to undergo a minor procedure to repair a tiny hole in his heart, his doctors said on Monday.

Professor Haim Lotan told reporters that Sharon would undergo ‘a catheterization in the next two or three weeks’ to repair the hole, which was discovered during his treatment last week in the aftermath of a minor stroke.

Lotan said that minor stroke, which the 77-year-old Sharon suffered on December 18, was caused ‘by a clotting of blood which came from the heart’.

The professor said Sharon was already taking drugs in order to thin his blood. During the surgery, the prime minister would be under sedation but would not be under general anesthetic, Lotan said.—AFP