Cheney had mild heart attack: statement

Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney speaks about national security at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington in this file photo from May 21, 2009. Cheney, 69, was hospitalized in George Washington Hospital on February 22, 2010 after experiencing chest pains, according to media reports.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Vice President Dick Cheney suffered a mild heart attack, his fifth in 32 years, but his office said on Tuesday he felt good and will leave the hospital in a day or two.

Cheney, 69, who was vice president under President George W. Bush, was hospitalized on Monday after suffering chest pains.

"Lab testing revealed evidence of a mild heart attack," Cheney's office said. "He underwent a stress test and a heart catheterization. He is feeling good and is expected to be discharged in the next day or two."

Cheney's office provided no further details.

Heart catheterization is a medical procedure used to diagnose and treat certain heart conditions. The procedure involves threading a thin, flexible tube into a blood vessel in the arm or leg and running it to the heart to determine if there are any blockages.

Bush telephoned Cheney at George Washington University Hospital.

Cheney also took a call from current Vice President Joe Biden, a call described as friendly. The two men had sparred in separate television interviews last week over President Barack Obama's national security policies.

"Get better soon," Biden told him, a Biden spokesman said.

Cheney has been one of the most vocal critics of Obama since the Democrat took office in January 2009, saying the president was weak on terrorism.

Last week Cheney addressed Republican conservatives and declared his belief that Obama would be a "one-term president."

It was unclear whether Cheney would be able to join Bush at a reunion on Friday in Washington bringing together veterans of their administration. Bush is flying in from Dallas for the event.

Cheney's previous heart attacks were in 1978, 1984, 1988 and 2000. The last one occurred shortly after the November 2000 election when he was elected vice president. Cheney in 2001 had a heart defibrillator implanted to monitor his heart and shock it back into a normal rhythm if abnormal beating occurred.

The device was replaced in 2007 because its battery was running down.

(Reporting by Tabassum Zakaria and Steve Holland; Editing by Howard Goller and Paul Simao)