Former Argentine President Nestor Kirchner has left the hospital three days after emergency surgery on an carotid artery that feeds blood to his brain.

News broadcasts showed Kirchner being driven away from the hospital Wednesday morning in Buenos Aires.

He rolled down the car window to tell reporters he felt "very good, 100 percent."

Doctors operated Sunday after Kirchner had trouble moving his upper left arm, a symptom of problems in one of his carotid arteries.

Kirchner was president from 2003 until he was succeeded by his wife, Cristina Fernandez, in 2007.

He is currently a deputy in the lower house of congress and is expected to run for the presidency again in 2011.

President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner had dinner with her husband last night after saying on a public speech that no one had to worry about the ex president as there was Néstor Kirchner "for the long run", and then added, "my husband is in a very good state of health, and his evolution is positive."

• 'Kirchner in very good state of health,' CFK