The Progress Of Heart Disease Treatment In The US

There have been many innovations in heart disease care and prevention, and former Vice President Dick Cheney has been the beneficiary of nearly every one of those innovations during his three-decade long struggle with the disease.

It was those medical developments that kept him alive until he received a heart transplant at the age of 71. Now the former vice president is opening up about his experiences in a book he co-wrote with his cardiologist, “Heart: An American Medical Odyssey.”

The Record’s Steve Scher spoke with Dr. Nahush Mokadam, the co-director of heart transplantation at the University of Washington Medical Center, to get an update on heart disease treatment in the US and determine whether Cheney’s experience was unique.

Produced by Christine Streich.