A doctor has said former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi is responding well to treatment in an intensive care unit at a Milan hospital, according to reports.

Alberto Zangrillo, who heads the ICU at San Raffaele hospital where the Italian media mogul was admitted on Wednesday, said Mr Berlusconi “is used to responding with his best” and that despite the “grave illness in a truly difficult situation, he’s responding well to the treatments”, the ANSA news agency reported.

Dr Zangrillo revealed earlier in the week that Mr Berlusconi, 86, has had a chronic form of leukaemia for some time.

On Saturday, Mr Berlusconi was visited by a long-time adviser, Gianni Letta, who said: “I found him better than what I thought.” Mr Berlusconi is apparently eager to rebound, Mr Letta said.

“You know how every time he sets an aim, he reaches it,” he told told reporters outside the hospital.

In remarks to reporters, Dr Zangrillo referred to the infection as a “complication,” given Mr Berlusconi’s chronic leukaemia.

Earlier in the week, Mr Berlusconi’s doctors said they were treating his lung infection and giving him medicine to “restore pre-existing clinical conditions” given the leukaemia.

Mr Berlusconi also has a history of heart problems, and in 2020, he was taken to hospital with Covid-19 and pneumonia.