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Heart Disease (Expert Forum)
death
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death
by momule, Apr 05, 2001 12:00AM
I am writing because of the death of my 39 yr old son from dilated cardiomyopathy(biventricular dilation) per coroner
heart weight @ death 440 grams, no congenital malformations, valves of normal size, ventricles of normal dimensions, but both dilated....no artherosclerosis, aorta free of lesions and normal, vena cava and tributaries are not remarkable........lungs, no lesions(rght weighs510 grams, lft weighs450 grams) pulmonary arteries are free of thrombi and bronchial tree is clean.....Dec 6 2000
upon recieving my sons medical records, here is the finding on oct 18 2000......."no" heart enlargement.........He presented @ the emerg room with moderately severe chest pains and both arms hurting...arms tingling, nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath, sweating, palpitations.......
no edema, or syncope......cardiac protocol was performed....
Echo, ekg, monitor for 24 hrs was done...LV EF was 61%, Bp 160/92
which came down with iv and lopressor, sodium, and aspirin.....
anyway, no active disease, lungs clear, no evidence of infiltrate
4 physicians attended or read records and comments which i am still trying to decipher.......I am sorry this is so long, he was sent home with 800 mg of ibuphrophen 3 times a day for 10 days,
and after 10 days another prescription of same.........he was told to quit smoking and not to drink.......he had lifted a roll of coiled steel in sept and had been hurting ever since to one degree or another, but no lesions or tears were found by dr or coroner.......what am i missing?.......how could heart go from "no " enlargement to 440 grams in 6weeks and produce death in fibrillation?......coroner said we wouldd have had to have been standing there with the paddles to save him(he lived alone)....
thank you for your time
heart weight @ death 440 grams, no congenital malformations, valves of normal size, ventricles of normal dimensions, but both dilated....no artherosclerosis, aorta free of lesions and normal, vena cava and tributaries are not remarkable........lungs, no lesions(rght weighs510 grams, lft weighs450 grams) pulmonary arteries are free of thrombi and bronchial tree is clean.....Dec 6 2000
upon recieving my sons medical records, here is the finding on oct 18 2000......."no" heart enlargement.........He presented @ the emerg room with moderately severe chest pains and both arms hurting...arms tingling, nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath, sweating, palpitations.......
no edema, or syncope......cardiac protocol was performed....
Echo, ekg, monitor for 24 hrs was done...LV EF was 61%, Bp 160/92
which came down with iv and lopressor, sodium, and aspirin.....
anyway, no active disease, lungs clear, no evidence of infiltrate
4 physicians attended or read records and comments which i am still trying to decipher.......I am sorry this is so long, he was sent home with 800 mg of ibuphrophen 3 times a day for 10 days,
and after 10 days another prescription of same.........he was told to quit smoking and not to drink.......he had lifted a roll of coiled steel in sept and had been hurting ever since to one degree or another, but no lesions or tears were found by dr or coroner.......what am i missing?.......how could heart go from "no " enlargement to 440 grams in 6weeks and produce death in fibrillation?......coroner said we wouldd have had to have been standing there with the paddles to save him(he lived alone)....
thank you for your time
Doctor's Answer
by CCF-M.D.-DLB, Apr 09, 2001 12:00AM
I am sorry to hear about your son. It sounds like he died from an arrhythmia due to dilated cardiomyopathy, possibly from a viral infection. I agree with the coroner that there is nothing that you, your son or your doctors could have done differently to prevent this tragedy.
My father also died at the age of 39. He had chest pains in Janaury and had a work up and was told to take a few days off. They thought it was job stress. In March, while he and I were walking, the pains were horrible. He died that night at home.
This was years ago and I know if Angiography was available then, my father would most likley had a bypass and not died.
But, today, with so much available for a heart or suspected heart patient, my father's story should be history.
I too am puzzled about your son. With chest pain, did they not do a heart catherization to look and see?
God Bless You. I feel your pain.
what the prognosis was, he only said he had low blood pressure
and no heart attack, an irregular heartbeat and low potassium....
as a baby, he never slept over 4 hrs @ a time and this followed thru to adulthood, he was diagnosed @ 8yrs old as depressed and
hyperactive.....he also had allergies(ocassional asthma from specific foods and cats) over the years he has had torfanil, elavil and tegritol(no longer than 3 mos @ a time)...for allergies he has taken tedral and prednisone, not regularly, only when needed...in 1997 he was diagnosed as bi-polar and had 3 mos of prozac, but didn't like the way it made him feel physically even though mentally it served him well....he took an occasional inhalant when he would get around something he was allergic to(most recent).....He actually was a very healthy individual
always very physical @ work or play and never complained of anything except sleep problems and was tired from lack of sleep
when you asked, but he kept on going and he took a multivitamin
the only other thing is the qt @ 415 which i think is long between heartbeats.......still i question, what would cause the heart to go from "no enlargement" to 440 grams in 6 weeks?......
thanks for your comment