Cheney to Get Pacemaker Checked

WASHINGTON – Vice President Dick Cheney (search) will undergo a routine exam Friday to check the condition of a high-tech pacemaker that was placed in his chest in June 2001.

Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride said the tests at George Washington University Medical Center would include a physical exam, an electrocardiogram (search), an echocardiogram (search) and a stress test. The vice president planned to be back at work later in the day, she said.

"It's a routine physical," she said. She said the vice president also would have a colonoscopy later this month.

Cheney has had four heart attacks, though none as vice president. His last checkup was in May 2004, and determined that his pacemaker, called an implantable cardioverter defibrillator, was working fine and had never had to be activated.