Emperor emeritus to be hospitalized for heart tests
Emperor Emeritus Akihito and Empress Emerita Michiko pose for a photograph at their residence in Tokyo on Oct 4, 2024.
The Imperial Household Agency announced Monday that Emperor Emeritus Akihito will be hospitalized on Tuesday for examination after being diagnosed with a high possibility of myocardial ischemia.
According to the agency, the emperor emeritus, 91, underwent a regular checkup at the Imperial Household Agency Hospital in mid-April, and was found to have symptoms suggesting myocardial ischemia, a condition in which blood flow from the coronary arteries to the heart muscle is insufficient.
As a result of another examination on Sunday, it was determined that there was a high possibility of myocardial ischemia, NHK reported. Akihito will be hospitalized at the University of Tokyo Hospital in Bunkyo Ward.
In 2012, at the age of 78, he was diagnosed with angina pectoris and underwent coronary artery bypass surgery.
Furthermore, in July three years ago, he temporarily experienced severe symptoms of cerebral anemia, and an MRI scan revealed that he had right-sided heart failure caused by tricuspid valve regurgitation, a condition in which the valve connecting the right ventricle and right atrium becomes difficult to close.
© Japan Today
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Former Emperor Akihito and former Empress Michiko leave University of Tokyo Hospital in Tokyo in a car on May 10, 2025. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo Emperor Emeritus Akihito was discharged from a Tokyo hospital on Saturday after undergoing medical tests for a heart condition. The 91-year-old was diagnosed with myocardial ischemia -- reduced blood flow to the heart muscle -- though he showed no symptoms, the Imperial Household Agency said after the tests at the University of Tokyo Hospital. It said he will require careful follow-up care. He was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday after an earlier checkup detected signs of the heart condition. In 2022, he received treatment for heart failure. He stepped down from the Chrysanthemum Throne in April 2019, becoming the first Japanese monarch to abdicate in around 200 years. © KYODO
