right pulmonary stenosis secondary to fibrosing mediastinitis

[LILLYLOU102]

Could you please tell me how you would know after the stenosis if there was any artery on the other side if it doesn't show up on a CT scan? Is it possible that it could be dormant just waiting to inflate once it gets adequate blood flow? If other Doctors tell you its not a good idea to have it opened ,could it be they are not as specialized as a Cardiac internationalist? Thanks

[Jeffrey R Boris, M.D.]

Dear Lilly Lou,

A CT scan of the chest, including the blood vessels, will still show the blood vessels downstream of a stenosis, unless the stenosis is so bad that it is preventing ANY blood from getting beyond it.  There is no "dormancy" of a blood vessel.  Without evaluating you, I cannot tell exactly what needs to be done for you specifically.  However, I definitely would recommend that you have several opinions for what sounds like fairly severe disease at this point.

[LILLYLOU102]

  Thank you so much for this information. My life has been miserable ,this is my only hope . I have a 11 yo daughter who only see her mother sitting on a couch or she will always have to ask "mom are you too  tired to go". I don't want this to be what she remembers of childhood. Thank you again for giving me the courage to move forward and trust God and the Doctors who would be working on me.    

Felicia

[Jeffrey R Boris, M.D.]

I would say that the cardiologists, who are used to doing interventional catheterizations and looking at small pulmonary arteries, are more likely to have more experience judging whether this can be done, or not.  And, an experience interventional cath doctor can certainly perform a catheterization, do an angiogram (take pictures) during the study, and get a better sense of whether it is worthwhile attempting to go forward and open up the artery further, or leave it alone.

[LILLYLOU102]

  Sorry, I left out that the two Cardiologist feel the stenosis can be opened . If you were to attempt a Cath and seen there was not adequate blood vessels supply on the other side of the stenosis can you just stop and close it back up?

[LILLYLOU102]

Thank you so much for your opinion. I was turned down by Cleveland Clinic and Vanderbilt. The Doctors that looked at my CT scan were Pulmonary Doctors, Two Doctors from  OSU and Nationwide Children's Hospital are Cardiologist one being a Pediatric Cardiologist Internationalist know around the world . How do you know who is right?