Posted by Sarah on November 22, 2003 at 16:15:41:
In Reply to: Re: PVA or Maze posted by Patrick Haley on November 22, 2003 at 09:08:44:
Patrick,
I'm not a doctor, so what I know is from my own experience, with a 40% narrowing of one of my PV's after PVA. I was in the less that 2% of all pt.s who Cleveland Clinic has had to get this problem. I didn't have to have a stent, and it has stabilized with NO symptoms, so I'm home free. Dr. Schweikert says that because I take Lipitor for high chol. (which acts on the walls of the coronary arteries), the narrowing "could" reverse and get better.
Everything I read about PV stenosis can be pretty depressing. If it's as much as the 60%-70% narrowing, will cause definite lack of blood flow to your lungs. They also factor in whether you are having symptoms (that darned caugh!) or not. Congestive Heart Failure/CHF and other pulmonary problems (chronic edema)happen if left untreated, and lead to death.
The treatment is stents and blood thinning therapy. I asked about these new "coated stents" and was told that they don't make them as large as is needed for PV's yet, so it would be a regular, expandable wire stent. You would require blood thinner for the rest of your life. It's not easy to treat, and often the stents occlude, and have to be done over. I'm so sorry this has happened to you.
Did you have this stenosis before the ablation, or was it during the proceedure that it happened? Take care.
- Pulmonary Vein Stenosis and Drug-eluting Stents Justin Kuykendall 04:17:06 6/11/2004 (0)