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Cheney hospitalized overnight
Doctors find one of
vice president’s heart arteries blocked again
Vice President Dick Cheney underwent a procedure Monday to reopen a partially
blocked heart artery. NBC's David Gregory reports.
MSNBC STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
WASHINGTON, March 5 — Vice President Dick Cheney, who has had four heart
attacks, underwent a surgical procedure Monday to reopen a partially blocked
artery after going to a hospital with chest pains. Doctors at George
Washington University Hospital examined Cheney’s heart arteries and found
that one they had reopened in late November had partially closed again.
BUT CHENEY’S CARDIOLOGIST, Dr. Jonathan Reiner, told reporters there
was no sign Cheney had suffered a fifth heart attack.
“As of now, there is no evidence of that,” Reiner said. Cheney was in
stable condition and expected to remain in the hospital overnight.
Reiner said while Cheney suffers from chronic coronary artery disease,
he believes there is a “very high likelihood” that Cheney can finish out his
term as vice president in vigorous fashion.
Cheney, 60, suffered his most recent heart attack in late November but
quickly resumed a full schedule after an operation to open the blocked
artery, known as angioplasty. Reiner said there was a 40 percent risk of the
artery becoming blocked again.
During the procedure last November, one of Cheney’s heart arteries was
90 percent blocked, so doctors implanted a wire scaffolding-like device
called a stent to push away the blockage and prop open the artery walls.
Reiner said that following such stent procedures, there always is a
chance of renarrowing — and this is apparently what happened to Cheney. He
called it “a very discrete spot of renarrowing.”
March 5, 2001 — Doctors say Dick Cheney’s severe history of heart disease
indicates he is a great risk for further problems. NBC’s Robert Bazell
reports.
Reiner said he did not believe Cheney had suffered any additional
heart damage.
Cheney checked himself into the hospital after feeling chest pain
briefly on two occasions on Monday after earlier episodes on Saturday and
Sunday, Reiner said.
He said the episodes were “much milder and very brief” when compared
with the chest pains that Cheney suffered in November. “The symptoms were
subtle” this time, Reiner said.
Asked whether Cheney had failed to take precautions after his November
heart attack, Reiner said no, that the vice president had been “exceedingly
diligent” in following both dietary and exercise recommendations, including
essentially eliminating red meat from his diet.
“He has very nicely adhered to what we wanted him to do,” Reiner
said.
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Doctors inserted a flexible tube into the narrowed artery carrying a
collapsed balloon. Once the balloon was in place, it was inflated, reopening
the artery.
President Bush called the vice president to wish him well, said White
House spokesman Ari Fleischer. “During their five-minute phone call, the vice
president told the president that he was feeling fine and looked forward to
returning to work,” Fleischer said.
Earlier, Bush confirmed that Cheney was in the hospital, calling it
“precautionary measure” when asked about it by reporters.
Aides said Cheney, who was working at the White House on Monday, told
Bush in the morning that he was experiencing discomfort in his chest and
planned to be examined by a doctor.
Re-clogged arteries
Re-clogging of heart arteries is not uncommon. Consider these facts:
• Every year, over 500,000 Americans undergo balloon angioplasty to open up
clogged heart arteries.
• Of these, about 40 percent to 50 percent experience re-clogging of
arteries.
• To reduce the risk of re-clogging, doctors often use a tiny piece of metal
called a stent to prop open an artery.
• Adding a stent to angioplasty reduces the risk of artery re-clogging to
about 20 percent.
• If re-clogging still occurs with a stent, doctors may try threading
radiation-emitting devices inside the artery.
AHA, GW Hospital
One aide to Cheney said he headed to the hospital about 3:30 p.m. The
aide said he appeared normal, even cheerful, all day.
In a statement before he underwent the procedure, Cheney aide Mary
Matalin said Cheney checked himself into the hospital “for a repeat cardiac
catheterization after experiencing two brief, mild episodes of chest
discomfort. This is a non-emergency precautionary procedure. An EKG obtained
at the White House this afternoon was unchanged from one obtained last
Thursday.”
PRECAUTIONARY TESTS
Matalin said the EKG last week was part of normal follow-up care after
the heart attack Cheney suffered late last year. She said Cheney reported the
discomfort to his doctor, who advised the vice president to have the new
procedure done.
In procedures such as the one Cheney underwent Monday, doctors insert
a flexible tube into a leg vessel, and it is run from there up to the target
artery supplying blood to the heart. At that point, dye is injected. The dye
shows up on an X-ray or fluoroscope, enabling doctors to see the flow of
blood through the artery.
Heart Attacks
MSNBC Interactive
• Learn how and why a heart attack occurs
Cheney suffered a slight heart attack on Nov. 22 but quickly resumed
his hectic schedule, heading Bush’s transition team and playing a key role in
Cabinet and other personnel picks. Cheney has said he would “absolutely”
step down if he or his doctors had any concerns his health would impair his
ability to be vice president.
“According to the doctors, I’m stronger and healthier than I was six
months ago, because we’ve gone in and done that procedure,” Cheney said in
December. “If I had any doubts about that, or if they expressed any doubts or
reservations about my capacity to do the job, I would not do it.”
In a television interview Sunday, Cheney said he felt great. “I am
well-behaved. They’ve taken control of my food supply. So I’m trying to do
all those things you need do to be a responsible individual with a history of
coronary artery disease and somebody who’s 60,” he told CNN.
QUADRUPLE BYPASS
Cheney suffered his first heart attack when he was 37 and underwent
quadruple bypass surgery in 1988 to clear clogged arteries.
After his last heart attack, Cheney’s doctors said the accumulation of
disease had left his heart moderately damaged. Other heart experts said
Cheney was at higher risk for further heart attacks than the average person
his age and needed to take such protective steps as losing weight.
Late in November, Cheney said his blood pressure was an excellent
106 over 80. He was taking cholesterol-lowering medicine that had kept his
total cholesterol level around a good 170, he said. However, he didn’t
disclose levels of so-called bad cholesterol and triglycerides, more
important than total cholesterol counts.
Asked if he feared another heart attack, Cheney said: “I don’t
operate that way. ... I look forward to several more years.”
A few days after his November heart attack, Cheney demonstrated his
back-to-business mindset when he responded to questions about his health by
jumping up and down and pumping his arms.
Opinions: VP should reveal more about his health
Cheney, who has declined to release his full medical records,
apparently has lost some weight since then, but aides won’t say how much —
or how much he now weighs. He exercises regularly on a treadmill and has been
skipping sweets, aides said.
The Constitution requires Congress to confirm a new vice president if
that office should become vacant. The 25th Amendment, ratified in 1967, has
been invoked twice, when Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned in 1973 and
again after President Nixon resigned in 1974, elevating Vice President Gerald
Ford to the presidency.
When Agnew resigned in 1973, Nixon nominated Ford to be his vice
president. Less than a year later, Nixon resigned, Ford succeeded him and
designated Nelson Rockefeller as vice president.
NBC’s David Gregory and Norah O’Donnell and The Associated Press
contributed to this report.
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any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use
without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest
in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational
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