WASHINGTON — Vice President Dick Cheney had a special pacemaker implanted in his chest Saturday to control a potentially dangerous heart rhythm. President Bush said, “I’m told the operation went well.”
The procedure was completed during a session in which Cheney had tests and had the device implanted.
“Everything went exceedingly well, exactly as planned,” said Dr. Alan Wasserman, chairman of the Department of Medicine at the George Washington University Hospital.
Doctors said he would leave the hospital later Saturday and be at work Monday.
Bush announced Cheney’s procedure during a news conference at Camp David in Maryland with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. He said he spoke with Cheney, who said he was doing fine.
The president said he did not think Cheney needed to curtail his duties because of his health problems, which included four heart attacks in 25 years.
“No, I don’t think he ought to slow down,” Bush said. “I think he ought to listen to his body, which he has been doing.”
The type of pacemaker that Cheney received is an implantable cardioverter defibrillator, or ICD. It is a cardiac pacing device that also includes a defibrillator used to stabilize an irregular fast heartbeat. Cheney called it a “pacemaker-plus.”
Doctors said that for months, they had been considering performing the tests that led to the implant.
“I’d say the vice president’s prognosis is terrific,” Dr. Jonathan Reiner, director of the cardiac catheterization laboratory at the hospital. “This device is going to be invisible to him. This really is an insurance policy for him.”
