Former President Ford undergoes angioplasty

LOS ANGELES, Aug 25 (Reuters) Former U.S. President Gerald Ford underwent an angioplasty procedure at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, to increase blood flow through two coronary arteries, his spokeswoman said today.

Ford, 93, who was admitted to Mayo on August 15, returned to his room at the clinic after the procedure yesterday and was ''resting comfortably'' with his wife, Betty, and other family members, spokeswoman Penny Circle said in a statement.

During the angioplasty, ''stents were placed into two of (Ford's) coronary arteries to increase the flow of blood through those arteries,'' Circle said.

''No further releases or updates are anticipated for several days,'' she added.

Ford is the oldest living U.S. president and the first and only person to have held that office without having been elected president or vice president.

He took office in August 1974 after Richard Nixon resigned amid the Watergate scandal. Ford lost his own bid for a four-year term to Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter in the 1976 presidential election.

Circle said earlier this week that Ford had been fitted with a pacemaker at the clinic to ''enhance his heart's performance,'' a procedure she said went ''smoothly and without incident.'' Ford's hospitalization was the second since last month, when he was taken to a Colorado hospital after suffering shortness of breath. He also spent about 10 days in January at a California hospital, where he was treated for pneumonia.

Ford suffered a mild stroke in 2000, and was hospitalized briefly in 2003 after suffering dizzy spells while playing golf in the desert heat near his Southern California home.

REUTERS MS PC2357