WASHINGTON (AFP) — US Vice President Dick Cheney, who has a history of cardiac trouble, underwent a routine medical checkup on Saturday and his heart was declared in stable condition, his spokeswoman said.
President George W. Bush's powerful deputy returned to his official residence at the Naval Observatory and resumed his normal schedule after being evaluated by his doctors at George Washington University Hospital.
"The vice president's cardiac status remains stable," his spokeswoman Megan Mitchell said in a statement.
The tests included a physical exam, an electrocardiogram and imaging of stents placed in the arteries behind Cheney's knees in 2005, she said.
Cheney was treated last November for an irregular heart beat found during tests linked to a lingering cough from a cold, but he has not suffered a recurrence of atrial fibrillation, Mitchell said.
Atrial fibrillation is an abnormal rhythm involving the upper chambers of the heart.
"He has not experienced any recurrence of atrial fibrillation and his ICD (Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator) neither detected nor treated any arrhythmia," Mitchell said.
Cheney, 67, had his fourth heart attack in 2000, the year he and Bush won the White House. Cheney underwent an angioplasty weeks after being sworn in as vice president in 2001.
In September 2005 Cheney had an operation for blood clots behind each of his knees, and in January 2006 he was hospitalized for shortness of breath.
The vice president has been taking blood thinners after doctors discovered a blood clot behind his left knee following a nine-day trip to Asia in March.
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