blood clot in right atrium

[marsbars]

Im a 23 year old female.  I found out a couple of months ago I have a 1 by 1 and a half inch blood clot in my right atrium.  One cardiologist says its because my port is sitting too low in my heart, the others say its part of my disease (hypereosiniphilic syndrome).  I have heart pain and palpatations, which they say is not related to the clot.  I dont know who to trust anymore.  My cardiologist says I need the port pulled back, but my hemotologist and my internist won't risk the infection and say its not the port at all because they say its not in my heart on the x-ray.. but the cardiologist has now seen a TEE AND an MRI and says it is.  so Im left with no one doing ANYTHING about it.I cant just get a second opinion because the canadian system does not work that way.  I dont want to be pushy, but I feel that I am having syptoms concerning this , but no one will take it seriously.  When they first found it they were so concerned and now I cant get any help.  They even said not to do anything active, so it does not move! Im really afraid of dying from this!I had to bag for the TEE and MRI that showed this in the first place.. so now I find it hard to trust, but I dont want to get carried away with my own emotions either.  
is this worth being worried about?
Im on: Prednisone 70mg (3 years now), hydroclorithiazide, fragmin 25000 units daily(injection) slow-K, iron,adviar and ventolin

[nanajenk]

A related discussion, Blood Clot in right atrium!!  Very nervous, worried  :( was started.

[NurseKagome]

I am sorry to hear of your worries, I hope your feeling better soon.

Nurse Kagome (I'm from Canada too!) :)

[Cleveland Clinic]

marsbars,

thanks for the post.

We see clot on a central dwelling catheter from time to time. Often, we try to position the catheter outside of the atrium when we place them in order to try to minimize this type of complication.  Once a clot is on the catheter, management becomes a little more complex. Having clot is a risk for infection and embolization into the lung. A lot of the management depends on the size of the clot and whether there is evidence of the clot causing problems. Removing the catheter also carries risk though of possibly stripping the clot on removal.


Sometimes its best to put the patient on anticoagulation for a period of several months and then think about removal if the clot in increasing or changing.

Speak with your cardiologist and express your concerns.

good luck