U.S. evangelist Billy Graham has surgery

MIAMI (Reuters) - U.S. evangelist Billy Graham was in fair condition following surgery on Wednesday at a North Carolina hospital to update a device that drains fluid from his brain, hospital officials said.

The 89-year-old preacher has hydrocephalus, a buildup of fluid in the brain, and had a shunt system implanted in 2000 to drain excess fluid through a small tube down his head and neck into his abdomen, the hospital said in a statement.

A recent checkup found the valve implanted just under his scalp to control the fluid flow through the shunt was not working properly.

In an elective, 28-minute operation at Mission Hospitals in Asheville, North Carolina, surgeons replaced the valve with a newer model that can be programmed externally, the hospital said.

"He was bright and alert and conscious immediately after the surgery and called me by name," Dr. Ralph Loomis, the neurosurgeon who performed the operation, said in the statement.

Sometimes called "America's preacher," Graham has been a spiritual adviser to several U.S. presidents. His ministry said he had preached the gospel to more people in more live audiences than anyone in history -- more than 210 million people in more than 185 countries and territories.

He was expected to be in the hospital for a minimum of several days so the shunt valve could be programmed and regulated, officials said.

Graham was hospitalized last year for about two weeks for treatment of intestinal bleeding. His wife of 64 years, Ruth, died in June.

(Reporting by Michael Christie; Writing by Jim Loney; Editing by Eric Beech)