MILAN: Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been hospitalised at San Raffaele hospital in Milan, four sources told Reuters on Friday.

One of the sources said Berlusconi had been hospitalised for medical checks.

Berlusconi, 86, was discharged from hospital last month after six weeks of treatment for a lung infection linked to a Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukaemia (CML).

Berlusconi's health has markedly deteriorated in recent years, with open-heart surgery in 2016 and numerous hospital admissions since contracting COVID-19 three years ago.

He served as prime minister in 1994-1995, 2001-2006 and 2008-2011 and although he doesn't have a direct role in government, his Forza Italia party is a member of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing coalition.

Shares in MFE-MediaForEurope, which is controlled by the Berlusconi family, extended gains after the news and were trading up over 2% around 1342 GMT.

 -Reuters