Comments on: Kenley Jansen needs offseason surgery for heart condition, but hopes to pitch this month

By: raysfan1

raysfan1 — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 01:39:54 +0000

True enough. I use the term routine to indicate that, bad as it sounds, it is pretty safe and effective. The option a patient faces with Jansen’s condition is a scary sounding procedure that can permanently fix the problem, or medication every day forever.

By: raysfan1

raysfan1 — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 01:35:10 +0000

A direct hit like the one he took is potentially fatal on zero medication.

By: raysfan1

raysfan1 — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 01:33:51 +0000

Could be either. Multiple aberrant foci isn’t real common but not impossible. However, it is also possible they did not completely ablate the known focus last time.

By: scotttheskeptic

scotttheskeptic — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 23:23:29 +0000

A hit like the one Brandon McCarthy took is potentially fatal, even on 1 grain of ASA daily.

By: cur68

cur68 — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 18:21:35 +0000

Lets hope they get it this time. I’m not sure if its a case where the original ablation failed to ablate the generating cluster or accessory pathway or if there’s more than one spot doing the deed. Do you know which it is or which it likely is? Either way I hope this is it for him. Gotta be scary nearly fainting every time your heart does the funky chicken.

By: jarathen

jarathen — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 17:15:37 +0000

Good lord that sounds terrible. Doctors might think of it as routine, but the phrase “inserts a small catheter through a vein and through to the heart, where an electrical charge is used to destroy the problem areas of the heart” is about the most terrifying thing this side of whatever music teenagers are listening to these days.

By: raysfan1

raysfan1 — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 16:35:42 +0000

He shouldn’t need any stronger blood thinner going forward than aspirin. If he were going to take Coumadin or Pradxa then he would nor be allowed in the dugout, let alone on the field.

He will very likely be on medication to regulate the heart rate. Those medications also affect blood pressure, so they will have to be careful with dosing to avoid side effects like fainting.

The cardiac ablation procedure itself, while it of course has some risk, is fairly routine and usually has very good results. I have had fighter pilots who got to fly again after the procedure, so I expect he will be fine next season.

By: scotttheskeptic

scotttheskeptic — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 14:32:19 +0000

On bloodthinners and 60 feet 6 inches from a line drive… doable, but fraught with risk.