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What Causes Shortness Of Breath After Walking In A Heart Patient?

Posted on Fri, 20 May 2016

Question: The following was my initial question-(My dad had quadruple bypass surgery two months ago. He cannot walk more than 20'feet without running out of breath. He went back to the hospital a week after the surgery and they said he had fluid around the heart. He was released but has gotten worse. Any ideas? ) Since then, they found that he had fluid around the lungs. They drained 2 liters of blood last night. They believe that he was bleeding internally due to a fall and the fact that he was on blood thinners (causing him to bleed easily). He -my father- does not believe the fall was serious enough to cause the bleeding. Doctors say that due to the consistencies of the blood drained, that it was not possible that it was residually a leak from the heart surgery in January. Where else could this blood be coming from?

Answered by Dr. Lilit Baghdasaryan (33 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Residual leak after the surgery is not likely

Detailed Answer:
Dear Sir,

After CABG surgery some patients may develop pleural and pericardial effusion, which can be bloody if the patient develops it during 30 days after the surgery.
Usually it is treated with steroid or non steroid analgesics.
I think that is it not much likely that effusion in your father is after the fall of it is present in both lungs and around the heart.
Anyway it is not possible to give a final conclusion without seeing the patient and the results of all analysis and investigations.

Hope I could help you

Wishing a good health to your father

In case of further questions don't hesitate to ask

Regards,

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

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar