RIO DE JANEIRO—A Sao Paulo hospital says Brazil's former president Jose Sarney is in its intensive care unit following a heart procedure to clear an obstructed artery.

Sirio-Libanes Hospital says in a news release that Sarney was brought in Saturday afternoon with chest pains, and the pains worsened that evening. The release says doctors performed an angioplasty and placed a stent in the affected artery.

Sarney, now a senator, led Brazil from 1985-1990 as the country's first civilian president following a military dictatorship.

The hospital says the former president is in stable condition, but remains in the intensive care unit.