U.S. & World

E-mail

Close Window E-mail This Page

Dick Cheney Undergoing Surgery

Required fields are marked with an asterisk(*)

Recipient E-mail:*
- Your Name:*
- Your E-mail:*
Add a Message:
Send me a copy of this e-mail.

Type the characters in this picture:*

Click here to refresh with new letters

The information you provide will be used only to send the requested e-mail and will not be used to send any other e-mail communications. Read more in our Privacy Policy

Send E-mail

Print Share + Comments

Sep 17, 2009 7:12 am US/Pacific

Dick Cheney Undergoing Surgery

CBS News Interactive: Dick Cheney

WASHINGTON (AP) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: Former Vice President Dick Cheney speaks at the Gerald R. Ford Foundation's annual Journalism Awards on June 1, 2009, in Washington, D.C.
Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images

Close

numSlides of totalImages

Related Links

CBS News Interactive: Dick Cheney

Former Vice President Dick Cheney is having elective back surgery at George Washington University Hospital.

Cheney spokeswoman Lucy Tutwiler says the surgery Thursday is to deal with lumbar spinal stenosis, a common cause of lower back pain in older adults.

Spinal stenosis is a narrowing of the spinal canal - the passage for the spinal cord - which in turn puts pressure on nerves, causing pain. Surgery is done to widen the passage and ease that pressure, typically by removing a bit of the vertebra.

Dr. Anthony Caputy, chairman of the hospital's neurosurgery department, is performing the operation.

Cheney is 68 years old. He has had four heart attacks.