Apr 24, 2007 9:23 am US/Eastern
Cheney To Have Blood Clot In Leg Checked
WASHINGTON (AP) ―
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Blood clots that form deep in the legs can become killers if they break off and float into the lungs.
Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images
Vice President Dick Cheney was taken to his doctor's office Tuesday for a checkup of the blood clot in his left leg, a spokeswoman said.
On March 5, doctors discovered that Cheney had a clot, called a deep venous thrombosis, in his left lower leg. "He's going to get his leg checked out," spokeswoman Megan McGinn said.
The 66-year-old Cheney has a history of heart problems. Blood clots that form deep in the legs can become killers if they break off and float into the lungs. This is called a pulmonary embolism. Deep vein thrombosis strikes an estimated 2 million Americans each year, killing 60,000.
Cheney's doctor's office is located at the George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates near George Washington University Hospital.
Cheney went to the hospital on March 20 after experiencing discomfort in his left lower leg. McGinn said then that the ultrasound revealed no extension or complication of his clot and that his blood thinning medication was therapeutic.
Cheney has had had a number of heart-related problems over the years.
He had six hours of surgery on his legs in 2005 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 a special pacemaker in his chest.
(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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