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Question:
My mother is in a nursing home. Two and 1/2 years ago she complained of pain in her left leg. It was red, particularly behind the knee and swollen.
A doppler was performed and my mother was sent out to the hospital for treatment. She was told she had DVT. There were several small clots, eventually these merged to form one large one (?) and adhered to the wall of the artery.
My mother was on Warfarin, but is now on Plavax. Off and on her leg aches or she gets stabbing pain.
Recently mom had another ultra sound. This is one of many over the years since she had the original problem diagnosed.
This time the tech came in, hastily (less than 10 minutes) did the ultra sound and said he could only see what appeared to be an unusual formation in the left leg.
Several days later, since my mother and I were persistant (as one has to be in a Nursing Home setting!, we finally got the results back.
Perfectly clear! HUH??? Can a clot dissapear? The pain is still there intermitently.
I feel as though this may be the result of a poorly done Ultra Sound rather than the clot disappearing!
Can you comment?
Question submitted by:
lsdcd@aol.com
| Dr. Kolvenbach |
Living and practicing in Duesseldorf, Germany, Dr. Ralf Kolvenbach serves as Chief of the Department of General and Vascular Surgery at Augusta Hospital. Dr. Kolvenbach is also a Professor of Vascular Surgery at the University of Duesseldorf. He is affiliated with the German Board of Vascular Surgery as a Fellow, the European Society of Vascular Surgery as a full member, and the Royal Society of Medicine (UK) as a Fellow, among others.
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Answer:
The clot can disappear but the pain, and related problems such as swelling remain.
