Kevin Rudd to have heart surgery

Kevin Rudd will have heart surgery next month, saying it's "time for a grease and oil change" on an aortic valve he had replaced almost 20 years ago.

The foreign minister says he'll go under the knife on or around August 1 in either Sydney or Brisbane.

Mr Rudd first had the surgery in 1993 when he was director general of the cabinet office in the Queensland government.

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But the valve has worn out, and doctors have told him it needs replacing.

Mr Rudd, who'll be off work for eight weeks, says he's still got the ticker for politics and he'll recontest his seat at the next election.

"The doctors advise me I have every expectation of a total recovery as it happened last time," he told reporters in Brisbane.

"This is now a reasonably common procedure across the country.

"Stacks of people have it and so it will not change one iota my intention to recontest the seat of Griffith on behalf of the Australian Labor Party at the next election."

Mr Rudd announced the surgery before travelling to Indonesia for the East Asia Summit and ASEAN meetings, and the Horn of Africa where he'll examine Australia's response to the unfolding food crisis.

Mr Rudd said he had informed Prime Minister Julia Gillard of the situation this morning, and advised Trade Minister Craig Emerson would be Acting Foreign Minister while he recovered.

Cardiothoracic and transplant surgeon Dr Michael Rowland, of the Melbourne Heart and Lung Surgery, said the risks facing Mr Rudd were greater than for a first-time transplant recipient.

"There’s a risk of death,” he told The Australian Online.

"There’s a risk of other major complications or adverse things. The major one is stroke or permanent brain damage.

"Other major risks could include kidney failure or other serious bloodstream infections or infections around the valve or a heart attack I suppose."

Dr Rowland said the risk of medical mishap was heightened in the case of repeat operations, due to scarring to vital organs.

Mr Rudd said he was scheduled to have the procedure in a Brisbane or Melbourne hospital on or about August 1.

“The precise arrangements are still being sorted out by cardiologists and cardiac surgeons. That’ll be known in due course,” he said.

Transplant heart valves are usually made from animal tissues, although Mr Rudd's first was from a human donor.

Mr Rudd's heart problem spurred questions over his fitness to govern in the lead up to the 2007 election.

He dismissed the suggestions at the time, declaring he was ``fit as a Mallee bull''.

Mr Rudd has an 8.5 per cent buffer in his inner-Brisbane seat, a figure inflated by his high level of personal support as a former prime minister.