AFIB After Vascular Leg Surgery

[paralegalassociates]

I have never had ny type of heart problem and just before I had varicose veins removed from my lrgs thios year my EKG showed a normal heart rate and no abnormal tach or other signs of potential problem. After being given a blood thinner for ten days which caused a mild ulcerative collitis flareup, at a check up for the UC my primary care physician noticed a heart rate of 150, gave me a few liters of saline solution and IV medication to slow the rate down, then prescribed 60 mg DILTIAZEM ER BID
while scheduling a echocardiagram (and once I stabalize a Holter monitor 24 hour heart study) based on his diagnosis on Atrial Fibrilation ("AFIB") which my vascular surgeon did not warn my of and still maintains there was no risk of AFIB from surgery on both my legs (she had to redo one leg that last years operation was not successful on). On the morning of surgery she arrived late and had to ask me to remind her what procedure she was supposed to do for me. Because she says she has done several thousand similar surgeries and no one has ever had AFIB thereafter, she refused to refer my to a cardiologist claiming the AFIB can have nothing to do with her surgery so she does not have any responsibility to get involved with my getting treatment and she will only see me at usual six monoth post-surgery check up for how the legs turned out. In the interim my heart rate fluctuates between 100 and 130 or 140 for up to a week at a time then goes back to normal at times. My question is whether internationally renouned Boston vascular Surgeon Julianne Stoughton is correct in telling me it is impossible to get AFIB as a result of veinous ablation and flebectomy which she claims she had no duty to warn me of risk of, and rather than waiting a few months for echo and holter monotor heart studies or should I perhaps seek out a cardiolologist for a second opinion now while the problem is still very active.

[maggiemag]

Ditto what Steph said!  It is most likely a coincidence and not related per se to the surgery.  There would be no need to warn you ahead of time of a risk for AF, any more, for instance, that it would be necessary to warn you of the possibility of getting thrush from an antibiotic you took after the surgery.  Things just happen sometimes!  I also wonder why your PCP didn't refer you himself, and certainly I would seek out a cardiologist if I were you.

[StephPT]

Boy, it sure does sound like she is giving you the brush off!!  If there is one thing i can't stand, it's a doctor that can't look beyond the body part he/she is treating and treat you as a whole patient.

My experience has been (and i work as a physical therapist in a hospital, treating all sorts of post-op patients, but never vein ablation, as that is done as an outpatient) that any time there is an "insult" to the body, stress on the heart can result in A-fib.  A stress on the heart could be an infection somewhere in the body (like pneumonia), or after surgery...being under anesthesia is not a "normal" condition for your body, and sometimes, the heart can get a little angry.  So, it is possible that the procedure kicked you into A-fib.  It is also possible that it is a huge coincidence.

I am curious to know, if you saw your PCP for the UC flare, and he diagnosed the A-fib, why didn't HE refer you to a cardiologist??  A-fib is not to be messed with...the blood thinner (if you are still on it) will help protect you from developing clots in the left atrium that can cause other problems like pulmonary emboli and strokes, but paroxysmal A-fib, over time, can become chronic, and the more you are in A-fib, the greater the likelihood you will stay that way.

Can you not see a cardiologist on your own?  I would do that.  Good luck.

steph