Former Vice President Dick Cheney checked in to GW Hospital Thursday morning for elective back surgery, Cheney spokeswoman Lucy Tutwiler said this morning.

Cheney will undergo surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis, a condition where the spinal canal narrows, irritating nerves from the spinal cord, according to the medical Web site WebMD.com.

Tutwiler said the operation will be performed by Dr. Anthony Caputy, the Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery.

The former Vice President, who has suffered four heart attacks since 1978, has maintained a close relationship with the hospital, where he has received treatment on several occasions. He established the Richard B. and Lynne V. Cheney Cardiovascular Institute, a GW research, education and community service center, after a $2.7 million donation in 2006. He was last treated at GW for an atrial fibrillation last fall.