Clinton recovering well from blood clot in her head

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is in hospital with a blood clot (Getty Images)

Doctors expect Hillary Clinton to make a full recovery after the discovery of blood clot in her head after a concussion she suffered last month.

Mrs Clinton, who is due to step down as President Obama's Secretary of State after what is widely viewed as a successful tenure during which she became the county's most travelled top diplomat, was asked to stay back at New York Presbyterian over the weekend after the detection of the clot during a medical exam.

The check-up had been planned in the wake of a concussion in mid-December, when Mrs Clinton, who maintained a gruelling schedule in the past four years, visiting 112 countries as Mr Obama's chief emissary abroad, fainted due to what was reported to be dehydration. At the time, the former Democratic Presidential hopeful was suffering from a stomach virus.

Last night, doctors disclosed that the clot was "in the vein in the space between the brain and the skull, behind the right ear". However, they added that "it did not result in a stroke or neurological damage". "The secretary is making excellent progress and we are confident she will make a full recovery," the doctors said in a statement. "She is in good spirits, engaging with her doctors, her family, and her staff."

Mrs Clinton's health has come into focus as attention turns from her tenure at the State Department – where she is due to replaced by Senator John Kerry around the time of Mr Obama's second inauguration later this month – to a potential White House run in 2016.

Earlier, her illness forced the 65-year-old to cancel a planned trip to the Middle East and North Africa. It also led to her bowing out from testifying before a Congressional panel probing the attack on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya. The assault on 11 September led to the death of a number of American officials, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, and provoked a heated debate between the White House and senior Republicans, who questioned security arrangements for diplomats operating abroad.

Yesterday, in the latest development in the Benghazi case, a Senate report concluded that the State Department's decision to keep the outpost open despite "the inability of the Libyan government to fulfil its duties to secure the facility" and "the increasingly dangerous threat assessments" was a "grievous mistake".