Holmes to undergo heart surgery

Broadcaster Paul Holmes is due to have open heart surgery on Wednesday after being diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

The condition is usually inherited and results in the heart muscle becoming thick. The thickening makes it harder for blood to leave the heart, forcing the heart to work harder to pump blood.

Holmes, 62, the Q+A host and radio broadcaster, was flown from Hawke's Bay to Auckland City Hospital last week after a Hastings cardiologist confirmed the extent of the condition.

An initial, more-routine operation in Auckland, involving the use of alcohol to kill the problematic muscle, was stopped after the surgery team became concerned the alcohol might seep to other, healthy areas.

Holmes is positive about his outlook, including returning to work.

Newstalk ZB, where Holmes has a show on Saturday mornings, is collating messages of support which will be bound into a book and given to the broadcaster before he goes into theatre.

In January, Holmes had surgery due to the prostate cancer he suffered more than a decade ago.

Homes told NZ Women's Weekly at the time the surgery was to ''correct some old stuff'' following his earlier cancer treatment and radiotherapy ''which tends to churn things up inside''.

A reformed smoker, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1999.

- © Fairfax NZ News