Good Health And Wellness For Life

New Heart Device Installed in Cheney

WASHINGTON, July 28 — Vice President Dick Cheney, who has a long history of heart disease, had minor surgery Saturday to replace the implanted cardiac device that can monitor and correct his heart rhythm, the White House said.

The device “was successfully replaced without complication,” said Megan E. McGinn, a spokeswoman for Mr. Cheney. The procedure, performed at George Washington University, was scheduled after an annual physical in June showed that the battery in Mr. Cheney’s device had reached the level where replacement is recommended.

Mr. Cheney was sedated for the procedure, which was performed Saturday morning, officials said. He walked out of the clinic at midday, returned home “and resumed his normal schedule,” Ms. McGinn said.

The device, which was implanted in 2001, is called an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator. It can act as both a pacemaker and, if necessary, a defibrillator to shock the heart back into normal rhythm. Doctors did not replace the wires that run from the device into the heart.

Mr. Cheney, 66, has had four heart attacks, the first when he was 37 and the last on Nov. 22, 2000, amid the furor over the contested outcome of the presidential election. Mr. Cheney has also had quadruple heart bypass surgery and two angioplasties, procedures to clear blockages in the arteries.