France's Sarkozy leaves hospital after heart check

Doctors said his illness was due to heat and overwork and ordered the 54-year-old to rest but prescribed no further medical treatment, his office said.

Sarkozy, dressed in a dark suit and tie, walked hand-in-hand with his wife, Carla, from Val de Grace military hospital to his car. He smiled and shook hands with white-clad medical personnel but declined any comment, AP reported.

Medical tests Monday on Sarkozy's heart showed no signs of irregular heartbeat and no long term consequences for the president's heart. Doctors diagnosed Sarkozy with "lipothymic" discomfort due to overexertion at high temperatures in a "context of fatigue linked to a large workload," a statement from the president's office said.

"A lipothymic incident is not a diagnosis, it is a symptom," Gabriel Steg, a professor of cardiology at Paris' Bichat Hospital, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "It's a sensation of fainting that corresponds with a variety of illnesses and causes, many of which are very common and banal but which also can be serious in certain cases."

However, Steg said the incident appeared "benign" and was common among people who seriously engaged in physical activities.

Tests showed no neurological or metabolic consequences, the statement also said, adding that Sarkozy suffered no "loss of consciousness," contradicting earlier reports from senior French officials.

Sarkozy left the hospital at midmorning; it was unclear where he went.

All of Sarkozy's official activities Monday were canceled, and his trip Tuesday to Mont-Saint-Michel, a Gothic abbey perched on a rocky outcrop off the coast of Normandy, was postponed. Sarkozy was still expected to chair the regular Council of Ministers meeting Wednesday, before beginning a three-week long summer holiday on Thursday.

Sarkozy collapsed Sunday while jogging on the grounds of the Chateau of Versailles, halfway into his five-year term.

Military doctors quickly performed a battery of tests on Sarkozy, who is known for his sportiness and hectic schedule. The presidential Elysee Palace said Sarkozy's test results were normal but doctors decided to keep him overnight under cardiological observation.