MOTHER Teresa (86) had successful surgery to clear two coronary artery blockages yesterday but doctors said she was not out of danger.
She was in a stable condition, a medical bulletin issued by doctors at the B.M. Birla Heart Research Centre in Calcutta said. "Many complications can still arise and her irregular heart rhythm still continues to be a problem, it added.
Earlier, the clinic administrator, Mr A.K. Chatterjee, said Mother Teresa had a successful angiography and an angioplasty. "She is well. It is a success. The angioplasty was done to clear the blockage in her coronary artery," he told reporters.
The procedures were performed eight days after Mother Teresa, a Nobel Peace Prize winner noted for her devotion to the world's poor, entered hospital with an irregular heartbeat.
The latest medical bulletin said the angiogram revealed "blockages in the two major coronary arteries".
"The (medical) panel then decided to proceed to perform angioplasty, which was performed successfully in these two vessels," it added.
Angiography is an X ray test which uses an injected opaque dye to show up blocked arteries. Angioplasty is the procedure to unblock the artery by inserting a balloon and inflating it.
It was the third time Mother Teresa had coronary angiography and angioplasty. The others were performed in the United States in 1991 and at the Birla centre in 1993.
"I heard that she came out of the operation theatre smiling and doctors congratulated her," Sister Prasanna, a member of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity, told Reuters.
In a medical bulletin several hours before the procedures, doctors said Mother Teresa's condition had improved and she had gone 24 hours without chest pains.
Doctors said she had suffered heart failure several times since entering the Woodlands Nursing Home in the eastern Indian city of Calcutta on November 22nd. She was moved to the Birla clinic on Tuesday. The angiography was delayed because of her critical health.
On Thursday, doctors said although Mother Teresa remained in critical condition, her vital signs had stabilised sufficiently to make the test possible. Mother Teresa was fitted with a heart pacemaker in 1989.
Throughout her stay in hospital, members of the Missionaries of Charity, which has about 4,500 nuns in some 80 countries and was founded by Mother Teresa in 1949, prayed for her recovery.
Meanwhile, Albania has awarded Mother Teresa its "Honour of the Nation" order for her life long dedication to the poor, the presidential office said.
President Sali Berisha described her as "the most renowned Albanian of all times, the living saint of our nation."
Mother Teresa was born of Albanian parents as Gonxhe Bojaxhi.