 Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is to return to hospital early next month to undergo a minor heart procedure, his doctor has said. Professor Haim Lotan told reporters that Mr Sharon would undergo "a catheterism in the next two or three weeks." He said that a minor stroke which was suffered by the 77-year-old Mr Sharon on December 18 was caused "by a clotting of blood which came from the heart". The procedure would involve the insertion of a hollow flexible tube through a blood vessel into the heart.
| This isn't minor. What they're suggesting is a common scenario: Sharon had an embolic stroke from a clot in either the left atrium or left ventricle. If he's had a heart attack or a history of congestive heart failure in the past, the clot is most likely in the LV; if not, it's more likely in the LA. Clots in the LV/LA tend to be unstable, and you can get a single piece breaking off, or showers of small clots over time. |
The procedure is very likely an angiogram to see the clot, as an echocardiogram (non-invasive, which I'm sure has been done) isn't giving them the information they need. The catheterization itself is a straight-forward procedure, though I wouldn't describe it as 'minor' unless I were a lying press flack. The real issue is what to do if one finds a clot in the LV or LA. The usual course is anti-coagulation (e.g., with coumadin) once the danger of intracerebral bleeding from the stroke has passed. Sometimes surgery can be done to remove the clot; that's open-heart and a major step. Whether treated medically or surgically, this bodes ill for Mr. Sharon, particularly at his age.
The article I posted from the Guardian suggests something very different is going on, and the treatment for a LV thrombus (as the clot is called) is different in a number of ways than the treatment for an ASD. |
During the course of the press conference, a team of four doctors released Mr Sharon's health records, a first for an Israeli prime minister. They reiterated that the stroke that he suffered eight days ago was "very minor". While Mr Sharon's powers of speech were affected for several hours, it had no impact "on his memory and other faculties". |