ALBANY – Governor Pataki was expected to remain hospitalized yesterday following surgery to correct a rare complication that “was not the result of a surgical error” in his appendectomy last week, according to a statement released yesterday.

Mr. Pataki, 60, was transferred to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center in Manhattan on Tuesday to remove a blockage from his intestines. The blockage was caused by adhesions that formed after surgery, according to the governor’s office.

Adhesions, similar to internal scarring, can sometimes form after abdominal surgery as a result of infection or inflammation. The cause for Mr. Pataki’s adhesions were not immediately clear.

A specific date for release has not been set. Mr. Pataki was working on his laptop, answering e-mail, and had been briefed on Lower Manhattan issues, port security matters and budget discussions, the statement yesterday said.

“Today, the governor is in good spirits, awake, reading, walking around, and conducting state business,” according to a Pataki spokesman, David Catalfamo.

The laparoscopic surgery to remove the blockage was performed after Mr. Pataki’s intestines failed to resume normal function five days after an appendectomy last Thursday at Hudson Valley Hospital Center in Westchester County. Mr. Pataki had originally been scheduled for release Saturday.

Blockages, which occur in less than 5% of patients who undergo intestinal surgery, could be caused by a number of different factors.

Common causes for adhesions are inflammations or infections, which can sometimes twist the bowel to “form a kink,” the chief of surgical critical care at New York University Medical Center, Dr. Mauritzio Miglietta, said.

Those situations are easily resolved with surgery to straighten out the intestine or sometimes even removing a part of the intestine then stitching it back together. Mr. Catalfamo had said no part of Mr. Pataki’s intestines was removed.