Carly Fiorina undergoes breast cancer surgery

Carly Fiorina was the first woman to serve as HP's chief executive

Former HP chief executive Carly Fiorina underwent surgery on Tuesday morning to treat breast cancer.

The first woman to serve as HP's chief executive had the surgery at the Stanford University Medical hospital in Palo Alto, California. Fiorina is expected to make a complete recovery from the cancer, which was first diagnosed last February.

The surgery and subsequent treatment is not expected to keep Fiorina from her planned 2010 campaign for a Senate seat in California.

Since leaving HP, Fiorina has become active in the Republican Party and served as an economic adviser to John McCain during last year's election. She is expected to join fellow female business pioneer and gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman to lead a strong Republican charge from Silicon Valley in state elections next year.

Fiorina served as HP chief from 1999 until 2005, seeing the company through the dot-com collapse and spearheading its landmark merger with Compaq.

Under Fiorina, HP's board of directors also underwent rounds of bitter infighting and press leaks which led to the first of the company's controversial Kona investigations that ultimately cost Patricia Dunn, Fiorina's replacement, her position as chief executive.