U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney has a mild case of esophagitis and some small dilation of the arteries behind both knees, his office said Saturday after he completed a two-part annual medical physical test. Cheney, 64, was at George Washington University Hospital for a colonoscopy, an upper endoscopy and vascular screening. The procedures completed his yearly medical checkup. In the first part of the exam last week, an annual heart checkup produced good news for Cheney, who has had four heart attacks. All attacks were before he took office in 2001. The latest tests found Cheney's colon, or large intestine, to be normal, according to statement from his spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride. The endoscopy "indicated mild esophagitis" or swelling or irritation of the esophagus, the tube that leads from the back of the mouth to the stomach. The statement did not elaborate on the cause of Cheney's condition, according to a report of The Associated Press. Cheney's vascular exam also "identified small, dilated segments of the arteries behind both knees." The vice president "is awaiting final recommendations from his medical team," the statement said. Cheney walked briskly out of the hospital Saturday and waved to the assembled news media before getting into a car that took him back to his official residence near the Naval Observatory. Cheney's heart checkup last week found that a pacemaker implanted in his chest in June 2001 was working fine and that it has never had to be activated. --SP 1129 Local Time 0829 GMT
