Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is recovering after Monday's successful elective liver surgery. Full recovery is expected in just a few days.

The former president underwent surgery at the Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.

According to the Carter Center, he was operated upon to get a small mass removed from his liver. It did not elaborate on the surgery, and while "small mass" could mean a simple lump of tissue or a malignant cancerous growth, the center did say the procedure was elective, and that the operation went smoothly without issues.

At 90 years old, the second eldest living president has a medical team monitoring his health, and the "small lump" which has already been successfully removed was not reported to be life threatening.

Even at an older age, the former president has a very active lifestyle, with fewer visits to the hospital compared with the eldest living former U.S. president, George H.W. Bush. Instead of hospital trips, Carter travels more, even internationally.

This year alone, Carter had gone on visits to the Middle East and South America. The former president, in a recent trip to Guyana to observe decisive general elections, however, had to cut his trip short because he was "not feeling well," according to the center.

In 1982, the Carter Center was founded in partnership with the Emory University Hospital, by Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn. The center has not disclosed any in-depth details regarding the former president.

Lately, Jimmy Carter released a new autobiography called A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety. The autobiography includes a detailed chronicle of his early years and his presidency, including many of his other endeavors.

The second eldest living U.S. president is younger than George H.W. Bush by just four months. The eldest living U.S. president Bush also had to visit the hospital earlier in July when he fell in his family's summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine. Bush was diagnosed with nothing more than a neck injury, and the worse he had to go through was an emergency surgery and a neck brace.

Photo: LBJ Foundation | Flickr