Pulmonary Embolism Support Group

By far the most common form of pulmonary embolism is a thromboembolism, which occurs when a blood clot, generally a venous thrombus, becomes dislodged from its site of formation and embolizes to the arterial blood supply of one of the lungs. Symptoms may include difficulty breathing, pain during breathing, and more rarely circulatory instability and death.

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Ferr 01/13/2009

I guess I'm one of the lucky ones who respond to treatment quickly, that's why they had such a hard time determining whether my PE's were real or not. Two times now I have had episodes with multiple PE's in my lungs. The first cat scan showed the PE's were there big as life. Within a week of being on Coumadin and Lovenox the second cat scan showed they dissolved or just disappeared. First time my D-Dimer came back negative, second time my D-Dimer came back positive. My pulmonologist told me some people actually do respond that quickly to treatment and if the doctor has never seen this happen before they might misdiagnose the patient. I was also told that many things affect the outcome of the D-Dimer test and it is anything but 100% accurate.
Have any of you experienced any of these experiences?

deleted_user 01/13/2009

Hi there.
I was diagnosed on September 1 with multiple bilateral emboli (and later a DVT). I was told in the ER that both my lungs were filled with lots of small emboli and one much larger one in my right lung. I was put on lovenox in the middle of the night on Sept 1 and begin taking Coumadin on Sept 3. I was released from the ICU on Sept 5 but had a different pain in my lungs on the morning of Sept 6 and was sent via ambulance to the ER again and had another CT Scan to see if I had new clots. Thankfully I did not have any new ones and all my small emboli had already resolved that quickly. The bigger one in my right lung had not. Just a month ago on Dec. 10 I was back in the ER with chest pain and they did a third CT scan (scary to have so many, I know) and found that my last PE was gone. Sorry to burden you with so much detail, but I thought it might help to hear the timeline. Unfortunately my doctors never tell me very much, I learn most everything here on DS, so I'm guessing it is possible to have the PEs resolve so quickly. I vaguely remember my hematologist being surprised in Sept that all my small ones resolved so quickly in just 4 days. I'll still continue to believe it was the power of prayer since I and everyone I know was praying like crazy.
Anyway, hope this helps.

hopper69 01/13/2009

Well, apparently I still have a residual scar and I am 8 months post-PE. I was surprised...3 months following my PE, I had another echocardiogram to see if I still had the mild hypertension that I'd had right before my PE was diagnosed...it had vanished...heart looked good. Also had a d-dimer test back in October when I was having some leg pain...d-dimer was negative/normal and ultrasound of leg was good. I was really surprised after all of those tests a few months ago that anything was still left. Hematologist referred to it as a scar...not sure what is normal with all of this healing business.

Nancy

cupcakedecay 01/14/2009

Hi Hi, I had one massive bilateral pe on June 10th, and I had a follow up scan in october almost exactly 4 months from hospitalization, and my clot was completely gone with no trace of scarring. The ER dr said it had probably dissolved sometime before the scan considering there was no scare tissue or residule clot left in the scan so who knows I guess mine was sometime before 4 months? I saw my pulmonologist in Dec. he looked at all of my scans and said that my lungs look perfect and as though I never had a clot, which put a huge smile on my face! He also told me I could go off coumadin since it had been 6 months however I am sticking to my hematologists treatment plan which was 1 year.

I guess its on an individual basis, bc I have read on here that some people still have clots after 6 or 7 months...

MAUH!

MSM24 01/14/2009

After 5 months my clot was a little smaller but still there. Then at a little past 7 months they did another scan and it was gone. so it took close to 6 or 7 months for mine to disolve

hopper69 01/15/2009

Just got back from my pulmonologist appt. He is not concerned at all that I still have some residual from my PE...says most clots are completely gone by now, but not to worry at all if it isn't. Doesn't make a difference and that he would be comfortable taking me off coumadin now...of course, I'm not yet because I will get tests next week and then wait on the results.

So don't worry if your clots are gone immediately or if they take several months.

deleted_user 01/16/2009

I was diagnosed on October 19 with 4 bi-lateral PEs (3 in the right lung and 1 in the left) following a trip to the ER when I had such severe pain in my back that I could not sit or stand. I was admitted into the hospital that night and started Lovenox shots. I was discharged on the 22nd and continued the shots for 4 more days as the coumadin kicked in. Had terrible bouts with dizziness. I was back at the ER in early December with chest pains and headache. They did another CT scan due to the concern with the headache. Supposedly all PEs are gone. I am targeted 3 more months on the coumadin.

deleted_user 01/17/2009

Clots were mostly clear 2-3 weeks post hospitalization and are completely gone now. I entered July 18 and spent 11 days there. I had no scans in between the 1 2-3 weeks out and the one right before xmas so they might have been done sooner.

My lungs are still a wreck though. But, at least there isn't blood in them now.

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