By Dalina Castellanos, Los Angeles Times –
LOS ANGELES — Former Vice President Dick Cheney had a heart transplant Saturday morning after waiting more than 20 months on a transplant list, his office reported.
Cheney, 71, received the new organ from an anonymous donor and was recovering in the Intensive Care Unit of Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va., after undergoing the surgery.
“Although the former Vice President and his family do not know the identity of the donor, they will be forever grateful for this lifesaving gift,” aide Kara Ahern said in a statement.
Cheney has battled a lifetime of heart disease, suffering his first of five heart attacks at age 37 and the most recent one in 2010, after which he had a device surgically inserted to assist blood flow through his heart.
The device, known as an LVAD, or left ventricular assist device, has been described as a temporary therapy representing a “bridge” to a transplant. The device had been implanted in the same Virginia hospital where his transplant took place.
In July 2010, when the device was implanted, the Los Angeles Times reported that Cheney may not be a good candidate for a heart transplant, primarily because of his age. Surgeons typically prefer to reserve them for younger patients with longer life expectancies due to the scarcity of available hearts.
There is no upper age limit for a heart transplant, the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute says on its website, though most transplant surgeries are done on patients younger than 70.
Five months after receiving the LVAD, a noticeably thinner Cheney said during an interview with NBC’s “Today” show that he would consider seeking a heart transplant.
“I’ll have to make a decision at some point whether or not I want to go for a transplant,” he said in January 2011. “But we haven’t addressed that yet.”
He underwent bypass surgery in 1988, as well as two subsequent angioplasties to clear narrowed coronary arteries.
Cheney, who served as vice president under George W. Bush from 2001 to 2009, canceled a trip to Canada earlier this month, citing safety concerns.
The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute reported that about 88 percent of patients survive the first year after transplant surgery and 75 percent survive for five years.
The number of active waiting list candidates — those who are eligible to receive an organ at any given time — was at 72,855 for all organs as of Saturday, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.
