Ab-Titchaz
JF-Expert Member
- Jan 30, 2008
- 14,631
- 4,225
WASHINGTON - 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.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/17/dick-cheney-undergoing-ba_n_289772.html
