Cheney's ticker battery to be replaced

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vice President Dick Cheney will undergo a minor surgical procedure Saturday to replace the battery in the special pacemaker he has in his chest, a spokeswoman said.

"During the vice president's annual physical examination in June, testing of his implantable cardioverter-defibrillator indicated that the device's battery has reached the level where elective replacement of the device is recommended," Megan McGinn, deputy press secretary for Cheney, said Friday.

She has said doctors must replace the entire device to replace the battery, and that the surgery will be performed at George Washington University Hospital.

During his routine checkup last month, Cheney underwent a stress test, and doctors also checked out the defibrillator, which was implanted in June 2001 to shock his heart if he experiences an irregular heartbeat. The stress test showed no blockages in his heart. Doctors also said then that his defibrillator was functioning properly and that they had not had to treat any irregular beating of the vice president's heart.

Cheney, 66, has a history of heart problems.

In March, doctors discovered that he had a deep venous thrombosis in his left lower leg. After an ultrasound in late April, doctors said the clot was slowly getting smaller.

In 2005, Cheney had six hours of surgery on his legs to repair a kind of aneurysm, a ballooning weak spot in an artery that can burst if left untreated.

He has had four heart attacks, quadruple bypass surgery, two artery-clearing angioplasties and an operation to implant the defibrillator. E-mail to a friend

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