I'm sorry to hear about your medical issues. PEs and clots are scary and painful, so you've been through an awful lot.
As far as imaging, probably the most likely test would be a TEE, or transesophageal echocardiogram. This is done in an endoscopy lab. They use an endoscope like those used for colonoscopy and EGDs where they check your esophagus and stomach.
They put the scope down your esophagus while you are under conscious sedation, and they sort of ultrasound the parts of your heart that cannot be easily seen by a regular chest ultrasound. This test shows blood flow as well as the heart and great vessels, so it shows if valves are not working quite right or blood is flowing in the wrong direction such as when you have a PFO or hole in your heart.
Have you discussed this with your treatment team? Are you seeing a cardiologist? If you have further questions, or if I didn't fully answer what you were asking, please let me know. Thank you for writing.
Comment Reply
Hi Ms. LaMonte
I'm sorry to hear about your medical issues. PEs and clots are scary and painful, so you've been through an awful lot.
As far as imaging, probably the most likely test would be a TEE, or transesophageal echocardiogram. This is done in an endoscopy lab. They use an endoscope like those used for colonoscopy and EGDs where they check your esophagus and stomach.
They put the scope down your esophagus while you are under conscious sedation, and they sort of ultrasound the parts of your heart that cannot be easily seen by a regular chest ultrasound. This test shows blood flow as well as the heart and great vessels, so it shows if valves are not working quite right or blood is flowing in the wrong direction such as when you have a PFO or hole in your heart.
Have you discussed this with your treatment team? Are you seeing a cardiologist? If you have further questions, or if I didn't fully answer what you were asking, please let me know. Thank you for writing.
August 20, 2010 - 7:12amThis Comment
Reply