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Cheney back to work after doctors fix heartbeat

  • Story Highlights
  • NEW: Cheney met with Bush, received intelligence briefing Tuesday morning
  • Doctors used an electrical current to shock the heartbeat back to normal rhythm
  • The vice president initially went to the doctor Monday about a lingering cough
  • Cheney, 66, has history of heart ailments, including four heart attacks
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Vice President Dick Cheney went back to his normal work schedule Tuesday, a day after doctors used an electrical current to correct an irregular heartbeat, his spokesman said.

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Dick Cheney attended a White House meeting on the Mideast before undergoing a routine heart procedure.

Cheney arrived at work at 7:15 a.m. ET. He met with President Bush, received an intelligence briefing and met with staff, said spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride.

He is scheduled to meet Bush again in the Oval Office later in the day. In the next week, Cheney will have lunch with National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley and attend GOP fundraisers in Texas and Missouri, she said.

Doctors described the procedure Cheney underwent Monday, intended to shock his heart back into normal rhythm, as routine. Cheney left George Washington University Hospital after about two and a half hours.

"The procedure went smoothly and without complication," according to a White House statement. "The vice president has returned home and will resume his normal schedule tomorrow at the White House." Video Watch CNN's Elizabeth Cohen explain Cheney's heart troubles »

The 66-year-old vice president has a history of heart ailments, including four heart attacks dating back to 1978. He was briefly hospitalized in January 2006 after suffering shortness of breath.

Cheney went to a doctor Monday morning after complaining of a lingering cough from a cold, his office reported.

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During the appointment, doctors diagnosed him with atrial fibrillation, an irregular beating of the heart's upper chambers that has been linked to an increased risk of stroke. Watch how atrial fibrillation is treated Video

His limousine arrived at the hospital shortly after 5 p.m., a few minutes behind his wife, Lynne. He left the hospital about 7:30 p.m. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

CNN's Ed Henry contributed to this report.

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