I know this update has taken a while, but I had to do a lot of research before I could update this appropriately.
I had an appointment with my cardiologist on September 9th to review the results of my MRI. As I've already shared, the most important information that I received is that I am tumor free!! However, I did receive a lot of information on what's been going on with my heart at this appointment. Dr. A talked for quite some time about a congenital heart defect that I had and how it was affecting me. He referenced lots of pictures of hearts and talked a lot about veins and blood flow. I thought it was making sense at the time, but after the appointment I felt really lost. I obtained a copy of my MRI report from the hospital, did some research, and now feel like I understand what's going on. I was taken off of coumadin and put on a daily aspirin regimen.
I am missing the left superior pulmonary vein in my heart. It's a congenital heart defect called a partial anomalous pulmonary venous return with the absence of the left superior pulmonary vein. I found a terrific website the explains everything so clearly. In a nutshell, this is a defect that I was born with. It's considered very rare and is usually not discovered until adulthood. It doesn't cause problems until later in life when the part of the heart is being taxed too much.
Please check out this very simple website: http://www.pted.org/?id=papvr1
Here is the basic info from the website:
This rare defect, one or more of the pulmonary veins carries blood from the lung to the right side of the heart, rather than to the left atrium (LA) as in the normal heart.
The anomalous (abnormal) pulmonary vein or veins may be connected directly to the right atrium (RA). They may also be connected to one of the veins that carry oxygen-poor blood from the body to the right atrium, such as the inferior (IVC) or superior vena cava (SVC) (as shown in the diagram). There are many variations of this anomaly, which occurs in boys and girls with equal frequency.
This defect often remains undiagnosed during childhood, and even during adulthood. Later in life, however, symptoms may arise that make surgical repair necessary. These include dyspnea (breathlessness) in response to exertion, atrial arrhythmias (flutter or fibrillations), or, more rarely, right heart failure and pulmonary hypertension.
Adult patients who have not been operated on in childhood may need to undergo repair if right heart enlargement (dilalation) occurs. This will be recognized through a heart murmur or through echocardiography.
Overall this isn't the worst news. Dr. A thought this easily could have contributed to the TIA. Also, it explains why he thought there was a mass in my heart. Blood is mixing and my heart is being "pulled" creating the appearance of a tumor. Because the left vein is missing, it's causing stress on the right side of my heart. I will have a CT every year (as long as insurance approves it) to keep an eye on the pressure in my heart.
Here's why:
The right ventricular end diastolic volume index in the right chamber of my heart is 117.5mL/m2.
Normal is 60-88. The definition is the amount of blood pumped out of the heart per beat
Right Right ventricular end systolic volume index is 54.2mL/m2
Normal is 19-30. The definition is lowest volume of blood in the ventricle at any point in the cardiac cycle.
The left side of my heart is doing well.
Diastolic volume is 61.7 with normal being 50-84
Systolic volume is 24.3 with normal being 17-37
I know that's a lot of technical informaiton, but at least all of this explains what has been going on. I feel very relieved knowing what's happening with my heart and that I will be fine. I'm under the care of a cardiologist and if my heart ever gets too sressed, we'll know.
Thank you for all of your support over the last three months. Hopefully I won't have any more news to report for one full year.
