ARIEL SHARON, who was rushed to hospital last week after suffering a mild stroke, is to return for an operation within the next three weeks to repair a congenital defect in his heart.

Doctors discovered a small hole in the Israeli Prime Minister’s heart wall as they conducted extensive tests on the 77-year-old former general. They believe the hole might have caused the stroke.

But the doctors — who yesterday took the unprecedented step of unveiling Mr Sharon’s medical records for the first time — said he suffered no lasting damage from the stroke, and that the defect was found in 15 to 25 per cent of the general population.

Despite those assurances, news of Mr Sharon’s heart condition will fuel concerns about his health as he seeks another four-year term as head of Kadima, his new party, in elections set for late March.

The Prime Minister’s weight, previously a jealously guarded secret, was also made public yesterday. He stands 5ft 7in (1.7m) high but weighs 18st 8lb (118kg) and has been ordered to shed nearly 100lb for his health’s sake.

Mr Sharon’s doctors say he has already lost 6lb since he emerged from hospital, and has reportedly been forsaking plates of pastries laid out for meetings. He even joked about his new regime before the Jewish religious festival of Chanukkah that began on Sunday evening, when Jews traditionally eat jam doughnuts and potato pancakes. “You may eat doughnuts and potato pancakes, but don’t overdo it,” he told his Cabinet colleagues.

Mr Sharon returned to full duties on Sunday after several days of rest and observation.

Fears for his health have emerged just weeks after he quit the Likud party and formed Kadima, a new centrist party, to contest the elections. Kadima has rapidly eclipsed both the Likud and Labour parties in the polls, but depends almost entirely on Mr Sharon for its appeal.

The party formally launched its election campaign yesterday with a pledge to try to end the conflict with the Palestinians. A Kadima policy document yesterday made the advancement of the peace process a central plank of its electoral strategy. The new party will use all efforts to set Israel’s final borders with the Palestinians.

The release of Mr Sharon’s medical records was an attempt to dispel the doubts over his health. Haim Lotem, the head of cardiology at Hadassah University Hospital, in Jerusalem, said that a hole measuring no more than two millimetres had been found in his heart.

The condition, atrial septal defect, is a failure of the wall between the two heart chambers to close properly before birth. It can be sealed using a catheter to insert an umbrella-like device through the oesophagus under partial sedation. The doctors said that Mr Sharon’s stroke occurred when a blood clot lodged in the hole, restricting the flow of blood to his brain, though he never lost consciousness.

Mr Sharon has been receiving a blood-thinning drug. He also takes medicine for arthritis and another drug to control his thyroid gland.

POWER STRUGGLES

April 1993: President Ozal of Turkey dies of heart problems

November 1996: President Yeltsin of Russia has a quintuple heart bypass operation after a series of heart attacks. His love of vodka is blamed

July 2004: President Klestil of Austria dies after his heart twice stops beating, triggering multiple organ failure

September 2004: President Clinton undergoes bypass surgery. “Republicans aren’t the only people who want four more years,” he jokes

October 2004: Tony Blair goes into hospital to correct recurrent heart palpitations

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