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I Have Been Playing Sports My Entire Life. I Am

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Posted on Tue, 18 Jun 2019
Question: I have been playing sports my entire life. I am 5%E2%80%9911 about 180 pounds and very physically fit. I am 46 years old but experienced an embolism at age 39 two days after my type 5 shoulder reconstruction which was repaired with the tendon from my left hamstring. Last year in January, I experienced had a TIA and an echocardiogram discovered a PFO. I was told that this a common defect that appears in roughly 1/4 the population but the condition could put me at higher risk of stroke and was prescribed blood thinners. My second annual cardiology appointment was due this month so I logged on to the oatient portal and saw my echocardio report from last January for the first time. It denoted the PFO but also identified a intratrial septal aneurism with bidirectional flow. This was at the very end of the PFO description with all other comments such as wall structure, compression and size normal each seperated by lines. I was never made aware of the condition and in the past four years I have experience severe bouts of exhaustion. I have continued to be active thinking I should tough through it and simply push my self harder. This has lead to extreme fatigue with 24/32 hours of continuos sleeping episodes just to recover. This has happenned 6 times within the last 6 months. I am extremely frustrated that it was not discussed or disclosed to me last January because I knew I just did not feel right. I do understand similiar conditions in others may go undiscovered and never cause issues but I feel my experience is definitely getting worse. My question is how is this repaired? I can find PFO surgery examples and atrial septal defect repair but not an example of intratrial septal aneurism with bidirection characteristic with a PFO procedure. I already have an appointment with a cardiologist scheduled but I am wanting to have an idea on what might be the possible options for repair. Thank you for your time and assistance!
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Follow up: Dr. Ilir Sharka (39 minutes later)
also I am male not female ... %F0%9F%98%83
doctor
Answered by Dr. Ilir Sharka (14 minutes later)
Brief Answer:
I would explain as follows:

Detailed Answer:
Hello!

Welcome on - Ask a Doctor - service!

I passed carefully through your medical history and understand your concern.

It is true that an interatrial aneurysm, PFO and interatrial shunt may be associated with a higher risk of systemic embolism, including TIA, cerebral ischemia and stroke.

In this regard it is very important to timely diagnose and properly treat this cardiac issue.

Returning to your exact health issue, I could explain that a small interatrial shunt can be safely occluded by utilizing an Amplatzer occluder by using a percutaneous approach.

You should discuss with your doctor on the above mentioned alternative.

Meanwhile, an antitrombotic therapy is recommended to minimize in situ thrombus formation.

Hope to have been helpful to you!

In case of any further questions feel free to ask me again.

Kind regards,

Dr. Iliri


Note: For further queries related to coronary artery disease and prevention, click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad
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Answered by
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Dr. Ilir Sharka

Cardiologist

Practicing since :2001

Answered : 9529 Questions

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I Have Been Playing Sports My Entire Life. I Am

also I am male not female ... %F0%9F%98%83