US Vice President Dick Cheney's doctors implanted a pager-sized type of pacemaker in his chest on Saturday to guard against episodes of a rapid heartbeat after finding him susceptible to them.
Cheney, 60, who has had four heart attacks since 1978, walked out of George Washington University Hospital just hours after the surgery. He waved to onlookers and said: "Feel good, sore shoulder, good shape."
PHOTO: REUTERS
He looked a little tired and stiff as he climbed into a limousine to return to his home at the Naval Observatory with his wife Lynne. He planned to be back at work at the White House today.
It was the third major procedure addressing his heart problems in the last eight months and came after a monitoring device two weeks ago discovered he was having brief episodes of a rapid heartbeat.
"Everything went exceedingly well, exactly as planned," said Alan Wasserman, chairman of the department of medicine at the hospital.
Cheney's personal cardiologist, Jonathan Reiner, said Cheney's prognosis was "terrific" and insisted there were no reasons why he could not continue to function normally in the country's second highest job.
At the end of the procedure, the vice president opened his eyes and asked what time it was. Later he ate lunch and took a call from President George W. Bush. Cheney spent less than seven-and-a-half hours in the hospital.
Bush, talking to reporters at his Camp David retreat as he met the Japanese prime minister, said he did not expect his hard-driving vice president to slow down.
"I know he ought to work at a pace he is comfortable with. And, I know Dick Cheney well and if I were to say, `You've got to slow down, Mr vice president,' he's going to say, `Forget it,' because he's got a job to do, and he's a valuable member of my administration," Bush said.
Surgically placed under the skin on the upper left side of his chest was an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). It weighs less than 80 grams and functions as a pacemaker, to speed the heart rate, and as a defibrillator, to slow it down. About 150,000 Americans have one.
The surgery came after doctors conducted an "electrophysiology" study on Cheney, which involves threading wires into his heart from the groin and using them to stimulate the heart with a mild shock to see if they could induce an abnormal heart rhythm, which was the case.
This proved to them that he was at risk of developing an irregular heart rhythm and convinced them to implant the device. The test took 35 minutes and the surgery another hour.
Sung Lee, who performed the surgery, said Cheney may never actually need the device but that it would respond within 10 seconds to any prolonged instances of a heartbeat rapid enough to be life-threatening or cause him to lose consciousness.
Lee said there is a possibility cellular phones could affect the device if the phone was right on top of the defibrillator so Cheney will be advised to use cell phones on his right side only.
Cheney might feel a "pop" in his chest if the device pulses an electrical charge to adjust his heart rate, Reiner said.
"Good," he said when asked how he felt as he arrived at the hospital with his wife Lynne at 8am. Was he anticipating an easy day? "I am," he replied.
"You know, quite frankly, I think he was happier to do this than to get some planned dental work," said Reiner.
Cheney said on Friday doctors told him there was "no reason" he could not continue to function normally as vice president.
"I have no long-term doubts. The doctors have assured me that there is no reason why either the procedure or the device that is being implanted should in any way inhibit my capacity to function as vice president," he said before the operation.
"It's like having an emergency room implanted in your chest," said Dr. Douglas Zipes, a cardiologist at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. Experts said the device should prevent any problems.
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