Pellet caused Whittington's heart to go into "afib"

[rainbow4321]

Irregular heart rate. Looks like they are hoping the pellet scars over quickly---so it won't move around anymore and bounce up against the heart muscle/wall.


http://www.c-n.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060215/NEWS/602150312


<snip>

One of the pellets from the 28-gauge shotgun that Cheney had fired had migrated to the heart, either touching or embedding into the heart muscle near its top chambers, called the atria. That irritated those chambers to cause the irregular heartbeat known as atrial fibrillation.

But doctors also spotted inflammation -- which always occurs when something foreign invades the body -- that was causing a temporary block in blood flow, by touching or pushing the heart, explained Dr. David Blanchard, chief of emergency care at Christus Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi-Memorial.


A pellet striking the heart can cause those problems, but it's not normally thought of as a heart attack, said Dr. Samin Sharma, chief of interventional cardiology at New York's Mt. Sinai Medical Center. "What probably happened is the pellet hit the heart and the heart released some enzymes" associated with a heart attack, he said.


As for the atrial fibrillation, it's not immediately dangerous but must be treated because if left uncontrolled, it can spur blood clots. Most cases can be corrected with medication.

[Hobarticus]

1. Have to wonder if they can leave that pellet in there, now...

I mean, if it's close enough to the heart to cause irritation and thus the irregular heartbeat, is it safe to leave it there? Can't treat that forever with meds, can they?

Anyone?

[cornermouse]

2. A couple of things to consider.

He's 78.

He could have other problems that we don't know about, ex. earlier heart problems or cancer.

[rainbow4321]

3. Sounds like he is be blasted w/ steroids and blood thinners

Steroids to help the cardiac irritation to go away and then blood thinners to help prevent the afib from causing blood clots.
Steroids and blood thinners are not a good thing at any age..78 yrs old probably won't help matters.
BTW, depending on the steroid dose, etc.., he could now be having really high blood sugars (steroid induced) and THAT could lead to a whole new set of problems. Blood thinners... possible GI/brain bleeding, frequent blood tests (even after hospital discharge) to make sure his blood is not too thin/thick, etc.
I don't give a rat's ass how the WH tries to downplay this. Even if this man survives, he now has a lot of new health problems and potential health problems that will keep chimp and cheney walking on egg shells for a very, very long time.

[Hobarticus]

4. Thanks for the info...I didn't think this was as neat n' tidy as

everyone seems to be playing it off as.