Tests on Cheney show evidence of mild heart attack

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Vice President Dick Cheney sustained a "mild heart attack" but is feeling better and likely to leave the hospital within a day or two, an aide said Tuesday.

Cheney, 69, who has remained a forceful advocate for the former Bush administration and a leading Republican figure since leaving office last year, has a history of heart trouble. He was admitted to George Washington University Hospital in Washington on Monday after experiencing chest pains.

Lab tests revealed evidence of a mild heart attack, Cheney aide Peter Long said in a statement. Long reported that Cheney is "feeling good" after undergoing a stress test and a heart catheterization. The latter procedure examines blood flow to the heart and tests how well the heart is pumping.

A heart attack occurs when blood flow to the heart muscle is blocked. The statement from Cheney's office did not say whether he needed to have an angioplasty, a procedure to clear a blockage.

Former President George W. Bush spoke with Cheney by telephone Tuesday afternoon, a Bush aide said from Dallas.

The heart attack is Cheney's fifth since age 37.

Cheney had bypass surgery in 1988, as well as two later angioplasties to clear narrowed coronary arteries, and bypasses tend to last about a decade before the rerouted blood vessels start to clog.