US vice-president treated for blood clot

US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has suffered four heart attacks, sought medical attention on Monday for a blood clot in his left leg and will have to take blood-thinning medication for months, his office said.

“The vice-president experienced mild calf discomfort today. In light of his recent prolonged air travel, he visited his doctor’s office” in the afternoon, said spokesperson Megan McGinn.

“An ultrasound revealed a deep venous thrombosis (DVT) or ‘blood clot’ in his left lower leg. His doctors will treat him with blood-thinning medication for several months. The vice president has returned to the White House to resume his schedule,” McGinn said in a statement.

Cheney, 66, and the man who would lead the United States if the president is incapacitated, recently travelled some 25 000 miles and logged 65 hours on an airplane on a nine-day trip to Japan, Australia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Once a heavy smoker, he has a history of coronary problems, experiencing his first heart attack in 1978 when he was only 38 - the same year he won the first of five two-year terms in congress representing Wyoming.

In 1988 he underwent quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery, and went on to become secretary of defence under the first president George Bush over the following four years, overseeing the US invasion of Panama and the 1991 Gulf War.

He had his fourth heart attack in 2000, the year he and now-President George W Bush won election to the White House. He underwent an angioplasty weeks after being sworn in as vice-president in 2001.

In September 2005 he had an operation for blood clots behind each of his knees, and then in January 2006 he was hospitalised for shortness of breath.

Taken From : www.news24.com