Story highlights The actor and politician had successful open-heart surgery

The planned procedure was to replace an older heart value

(CNN) Former California governor and film star Arnold Schwarzenegger had open-heart surgery in California on Thursday to replace an aging pulmonic valve.

His representative, Daniel Ketchell, said that the surgery was successful and that 70-year-old Schwarzenegger is in stable condition at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles.

"Schwarzenegger is awake and his first words were actually 'I'm back', so he is in good spirits," Ketchell tweeted.

Schwarzenegger , who had a congenital heart defect, had undergone pulmonic valve replacement in 1997.

That valve was "never meant to be permanent," Ketchell said, and had reached the end of its life expectancy, which was approximately 10 to 15 years. The valve used in the new surgery was a less-invasive catheter valve replacement, he said.

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