Former President Gerald Ford Gets an Angioplasty Procedure

ROCHESTER, Minn. – Former President Gerald Ford underwent an angioplasty procedure at the Mayo Clinic on Thursday.

Stents were placed in two of his coronary arteries to increase blood flow, according to a statement released Friday from the former president's spokeswoman Penny Circle.

She reports the 93-year-old former president returned to his room after the procedure and was resting comfortably with his wife Betty and other family members.

Mayo Clinic spokesman John Murphy confirmed the report, but would not comment beyond it.

Ford was admitted to the clinic Aug. 15 for tests and evaluation. He was fitted with an implantable cardiac pacemaker on Monday.

Ford spent a few days in Colorado's Vail Valley Medical Center in July because of shortness of breath. In January, he was hospitalized for 12 days in Rancho Mirage, Calif., to treat pneumonia. Five years ago, Ford suffered two small strokes and spent about a week in a hospital.

Ford became the nation's oldest living former president after the death of Ronald Reagan in 2004.

Ford was House minority leader when President Nixon chose him to replace Spiro Agnew, who resigned, as vice president in 1973.

Ford became president on Aug. 9, 1974, when Nixon resigned amid the Watergate scandal.

Ford and his wife live in Rancho Mirage, Calif.