Cardiac Cath perforation/Heparrin induced thrombocytopenia

[melinda]

My husband, 69, has been in ICU for three weeks..was to be a simple bypass but complications prior ie: perforation of artery
during cardiac cath then heparrin induced thrombocytopenia..
Has anyone had any experience with either of these. Thank YOU.

 

[Ross]

Hello Melinda and welcome to VR.

Give it a little bit of time as things are generally slow around here on weekends, but someone will reply soon.

I'm sorry to hear that your husband is having these complications, but it's a risk that we all take when these procedures are done. How is he doing now?

Is it normal, not really, but it's hard to define what normal is with these things. I'm not very familiar with either incident, so I'll leave it to others that may have better understanding of this subject to reply.

Again welcome to VR. pull up a chair and stick around for awhile.

 

[Nancy]

Hi Melinda-

Welcome to the site. I am so sorry to hear that your husband has experienced this.

It is so terribly stressful when something that should have been a simple thing, turns into a very serious thing. My husband (who is 72) suffered a very serious situation after a normally simple operation and was in the hospital for a long time, and then it took at least 6 months for him to recover at home.

It was one of the worst periods in his long medical history. But he did recover and is "almost" totally recovered from that after over a year. He does however, have many, many other compromising medical problems, having nothing to do with that unfortunate problem.

You will find many caring and kind people here on this site. So please stay and become our friend.

 

[medtronic of borg]

?ing the Dr's performance

?ing the Dr's performance

Did they know about his thrombocytopenia BEFORE giving him any heprin? Further more perferation caused by the Dr or was it spontanious?

 

[melinda]

Ross Y, Husband went into Exeter Hospital for cardiac cath. Doc
said if angio or stints would be home within 1 1/2 days. Doc found
many blockages and since this hospital does not do bypass
transported him to Portsmouth Hospital 3 days later. While in Portsmouth Hospital had severe pain from cath site and huge black and blues around back and waist. Only gave him pain meds.
Tuesday went down for bypass. Once looking at blood counts could not do bypass..after several hours of testing, (still under
from anesthia) determined that Exeter doc had perforated artery durig cardiac cath. (NO follow through from one hosp to the other)
Here this man was on Heparrin and nitro as he was bleeding severly. Required 27 units of blood over few days. Had severe
platelet/blood issues and determined him to have heparrin iduced thrombocytopenia. One and a half weeks later in hospital had heart attack and emergency bypass..it has been three weeks in ICU still very critical condition.

 

[Nancy]

Melinda-

I am going to send you a Private Message. It will come via valvereplacement.com. When you see the notice that you have a Private Message, just click on "open in a separate window" and you will then see a list. Click on eht message to view it.

 

[lynk]

Melinda,
I'm sorry to hear that your husband had problems with his bypass surgery and heparin induced thrombocytopenia. It really hit home. My husband had HIT after bypass surgery earlier in the summer. He was home 3 days and returned to the hospital with a pulmonary embolism. Fortunately the drop in platelets - heparin connection was picked up quickly, but it was a very scary time. Thats an understatement... He is now doing well - has an ivc filter, and is on coumadin.....

A Dr.JohnFrancis PHD. at Florida Hospital in Orlando has done a lot of research and education in this area. Echelon.ed.com has a course based on his research that is easyish to understand and it is offered free. It helped me to understand what was going on, the treatment etc. It seems that this complication is not as rare as once thought...

Feel free to e-mail, my best, Lyn

 

[hensylee]

Hey Melinda - my cousin was in for angiogram or one of those where they go up through the groin. The dr perforated the aorta and she felt it! Immediately they rushed her off to surgery where she had 3 bypasses and a valve replacement. Her routine testing had become dire emergency. She was lucky as was your husband. I know of two incidents in the next town that were not as lucky as your husband and my cousin. The two incidents? Same dr on both! Ought to fire the man - or sue him.

 

[fyrfytr]

Hey Melinda,
Sorry to hear about your husbands problems. I hope they get everything taken care of and that his recovery goes better.
You both are in my thoughts and prayers.

Dave
_________________________
Surgery: 4/21/03
Aortic Aneurysm Repair
AVR, with a St. Jude Mechanical
Heart Center of the Rockies

 

[Gisele]

Hello Melinda

Hello Melinda

Welcome to this wonderful site. My heart goes out to you and your husband for what you are going through right now. Here you will find a lot of support as this is a great bunch of people.

Out of curiosity.......you mentioned Exeter and Portsmouth, would this be NH? If so, not too many New Englanders here, so it would be nice to have someone from the area. Welcome!

I hope you are able to find out some information regarding your husband's condition. I know little about what he is going through so I can't help you there. I had a problem with heparin, but it was a subderal hematoma, so it was bleeding in a different area from your husbands and it had nothing to do with a cath.

Again, welcome to this site.

Gisele

 

[mamsram]

hi Melinda

Welcome to this site from a fellow New Hampshirite.

Geeze, I never thought of the angio as being a possible problem area. Guess it goes to show that anything pertaining to the heart can always have a serious side.
I hope this site will give you something to lean on thru this terrible situation you and husband find yourselves in. When I've talked to cardiologists about the angio, they just seem to flip it off. I sure hope it wasn't carelessness that led to your problems--We don't need that type of care.
I pray that things will turn a corner for you---I know a molehill has turned into a mountain for you and I'm so sorry.