On Thursday, it was revealed that Silvio Berlusconi, the former Italian prime minister and head of the Forza Italia party, has been diagnosed with leukemia.
The 86-year-old lawmaker has non-acute cancer, according to a statement from Milan’s San Raffaele Hospital, which also noted that he had had the illness “for some time.”
Following a stay in the hospital the week prior for lung issues, Berlusconi was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday.
The hospital claimed in a statement that President Silvio Berlusconi was now receiving treatment for a lung infection while receiving intensive care, adding that physicians had now also determined that he had leukemia.
It added there is a “therapeutic strategy in place” for Berlusconi’s treatment.
The controversial media tycoon has served three stints as Italy’s prime minister, most recently between 2008 and 2011, before being banned from politics for six years following a conviction for tax fraud.
Berlusconi returned to frontline politics in 2022 when he won a seat in Italy’s Senate, representing the northern municipality of Monza.
He was separately hospitalized last week for “routine checks,” his spokesman told CNN without providing further details.
In 2021 he was hospitalized for treatment for the symptoms of long Covid-19, according to the press office of his Forza Italia party. He also spent time in the hospital the previous year after contracting the coronavirus, and has had a number of other health concerns, including a 2016 heart surgery to replace an aortic valve.