Why would I have a heart echo? Echos are used to examine your heart as it beats in real time, rather than just getting a one-time static picture. In relation to coagulation this could be needed to look for possible pulmonary hypertension (related to pulmonary embolism) underlying heart disease in atrial fibrillation, problems with your heart valves or to see how … [Read more...]
Archives for August 2016
Tragic case leads coroner to recommend our service
What happened? An elderly man was on warfarin for atrial fibrillation and had not had an INR test for sometime. He unfortunately developed gastro-intestinal bleeding and became very unwell. When he arrived at hospital his INR was 8.1. In spite of multiple blood transfusions he died the next day. This tragic story reinforces the importance of two areas we have covered in … [Read more...]
Reaching your diagnosis – pulmonary hypertension
In this Medical Monday series, we’re talking about how your doctor reaches a diagnosis of common conditions associated with coagulation. It may help if you first read the introduction and the topic of pulmonary embolism, before reading about today's topic of pulmonary hypertension. Altogether we’re covering Introduction DVT, Deep Vein Thrombosis Post-thrombotic … [Read more...]
Weekend reflection -the Rock that is higher than I
We're posting an occasional series that's rather different to our usual educational posts. It will cover quotes that may help when you're facing adversity or finding your new normal. You may have discovered your DVT is linked to a diagnosis of cancer, you may have suffered a life-threatening PE or heart attack. Whatever the reason, many of our readers go through difficult … [Read more...]
Frivolous Friday – Feeling cold? Winter or warfarin?
"Of course I feel cold; I've got thin blood!" New Zealand is at its coldest right now which may seem odd to those of you sweltering in the mid-summer temperatures of the Northern Hemisphere, but we have snow low on our mountains. I fly to work for one of my clinics and the view on the right was taken from my plane yesterday. Not a bad commute, but a little cold. New … [Read more...]
Book Review – Next Breath – PE memoir
The Next Breath – New Life after Near Death Joseph Fisher – writer (4 books, 3 book chapters, 20 scientific papers) and medical researcher his website- www.the-next-breath.org contains information about the book and sample pages from it Bottom Line A brutally honest memoir about having a PE and resultant complications (of which there were … [Read more...]
Pulmonary Embolism Diagnosis – CTPA
Why would I have a CTPA? If doctors are highly suspicious that you have a pulmonary embolism you will probably have a CTPA. It is an investigation to look for a PE and doesn't alter or treat a pulmonary embolus in any way. What does CTPA stand for? Computerised tomography pulmonary angiography - quite a mouthful! We'll consider the CT and PA components separately. What's … [Read more...]
Reaching your diagnosis – pulmonary embolism
In this Medical Monday series, we’re talking about how your doctor reaches a diagnosis of common conditions associated with coagulation. It may help if you first read the introduction, before reading about today's topic of pulmonary embolism. Altogether we’re covering Introduction DVT, Deep Vein Thrombosis Post-thrombotic syndrome PE, Pulmonary Embolism … [Read more...]
Frivolous Friday – socks
After the last two serious posts about compression stockings, it's time for some sock fun! First comedian Louis CK complains about putting his socks on (and these aren't even compression stockings!) then a video of a good method of getting socks off and to finish, instructions on how to make a sock monkey. I don't know how this would work with compression stockings, … [Read more...]
Evidence for Compression Stockings – advice that’s hard to take
Paul had written about the importance of flight socks on long flights but then didn’t wear them himself because he found them so uncomfortable: Between flights, in an airport toilet, I actually broke a toilet seat cover because of the weird manoeuvring I was doing while having difficulty squeezing flight socks onto my already swollen feet: And yet, I just took it for granted … [Read more...]
