Cristina Fernandez Surgery Update: 4 Things To Know About The Argentine President's Health [VIDEO]

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner recently learned that she had a subdural hematoma--a collection of blood on the surface of the brain--during a hospital checkup for an irregular heartbeat and headaches. To treat this bleeding on her brain, Fernandez was advised to take one month off work and to undergo surgery. News of the President's condition was announced in a statement on Sunday by her spokesman, Alfredo Scoccimarro, revealing that the 60-year-old leader of Argentina, who was first elected into office in 2007 and returned to power in 2011, had a subdural hematoma. Generally speaking, subdural hematomas are caused by a serious head injury but they can also occur in the elderly from a minor head injury. When a serious head injury is the cause, the condition is called an "acute" subdural hematoma and can be potentially deadly as the bleeding compresses the brain tissue while filling the brain rapidly. When a minor head injury is the cause, the condition can be unnoticed for days to weeks and this condition is called a "chronic" subdural hematoma and this can spontaneously form. According to President Fernandez's spokesman, doctors had conducted a brain scan in August after an undisclosed trauma but found nothing, suggesting that she suffered from a chronic subdural hematoma.

It is now being reported that President Fernandez has successfully undergone surgery at a hospital in Buenos Aires, according to CNN. News of her health condition has been making headlines across the South American nation, as President Fernandez's husband, former President Nestor Kirchner, passed away from a sudden heart attack in 2010. Due to the surgery, President Fernandez will have to take a break from campaigning for congressional elections, which are slated to take place in the end of October. During her leave of absence, Vice President Amado Boudou will be in charge of the country and has stated that he and her colleagues would be "giving her the rest she deserves." Incidentally, Vice President Boudou is currently under investigation for corruption charges. The pause in campaigning coupled with the leadership of Vice President Boudou has led many political analysts to believe that the government could lose control of Congress in the upcoming elections. RELATED: Cristina Fernandez De Kirchner, Argentina President, Undergoing Brain Surgery For Hematoma Today

Here are four things to know about the Argentine President's health: 1. The hospital in Buenos Aires that is treating her announced on Monday that the Argentine President had a slight loss of muscular strength in her left arm. As such, the hospital recommended a surgery to drain the hematoma. 2. According to her spokesman, the operation took roughly two hours and President Fernandez was doing "very well." She is expected to stay in intensive care for 48 hours and then remain in the hospital until next week. 3. Medical experts, according to BBC, have stated that recovering from a surgery like this is a long process and her recovery should take more than a month. That said, her party is insisting she will only be out of power for one month. "This phase of 30 days is exactly the same," said Vice President Boudou prior to her surgery. "There is no question or uncertainty, no strange question. She is taking her rest, a rest that she needs, and also that she deserves. ... And the key is to keep governing. And that is what she has asked of us. And that is what you will find the whole team of the president doing, governing."

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During her time in office, President Fernandez has been admitted into the hospital on several occasions due to low blood pressure and having a thyroid gland removed in 2012.