Ally says Berlusconi to fly to US for surgery

MILAN, Dec 17 (Reuters) Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who had a heart scare last month after fainting at a rally, has decided to travel to the United States for surgery, one of his closest allies said today.

There was no official confirmation from Berlusconi's aides and his spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

''Berlusconi has decided to go and have surgery in the United States,'' Umberto Bossi, leader of the Northern League party in Berlusconi's centre-right opposition, told a rally in Milan.

''Let's give him a warm applause. If he can hear us cheering from Milan, probably his recovery will be quicker,'' he said.

There has been intense media speculation in Italy that Berlusconi, 70, who was hospitalised for three days late last month after his collapse, may have to be fitted with a pacemaker.

His doctors identified an irregular heartbeat but said there was no reason for concern.

Newspapers have reported that the billionaire media tycoon, replaced as prime minister by centre-left leader Romano Prodi after April elections, may travel to the United States as early as today for medical checks and possibly surgery.

Berlusconi himself has not denied he was planning a trip, but has not said where exactly he would go and why. Yesterday he said he would be ''back in Rome next week, because I have work to do''.

Daily Corriere della Sera said today Berlusconi as deliberately wrongfooting aides and friends by telling them different things, and had been mentioning several US cities as well as Geneva.

''Nobody will ever know where I am going unless I say it publicly,'' he was quoted by one unnamed source as saying.

The newspaper said Berlusconi had spoken to US President George W Bush, asking for advice about US hospitals.

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