Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - Practice notes Nov 22. Stone on IR (blood clot). Frolik won't travel with team

FusionX · 11-22-2018, 11:30 PM

That sucks to hear about Stone, though I'd have to say I sort of forgot he was our 7th defenseman for a while there.

In terms of blood clots, they can be serious and are taken seriously by physicians but it's not quite to the extent where people's lives are in danger necessarily all the time. The thing that makes it rough for pro atheletes is the fact that being on blood thinners makes contact sports a no go essentially while they're on it. Perhaps more importantly would be to figure out why people develop blood clots as there can be certain implications behind it but in Stone's case, as mentioned above, it could be due to compression as arm DVTs aren't nearly as common as leg ones.

As for risks of having a blood clot, anything in the venous system (as all DVTs are, regardless of arms/legs), the concern isn't anything to do with the heart (well, not the left side anyways) or the brain actually but the lungs. All blood coming back to the heart passes first through the right heart and then the lungs before hitting the arterial system. As a result, the biggest concern is a pulmonary embolism or PE where it blocks off blood flow in the lungs which can be fatal in some circumstances. DVTs generally don't make it to the brain where indeed it could cause strokes unless there's a defect in the heart allowing it to bypass the lungs.

Lastly, there are cases where an IVC filter could be put in to prevent clots from traveling to the lungs but that only works for leg DVTs as they're drained into the IVC where the filter goes. Stone's is in the arm so an IVC filter wouldn't work unfortunately. Also, filters really aren't used unless there's nothing else and only for as long as needed since they're a poor modality of prevention and cause lots of complications themselves.

Anyways, I hope he's doing ok and they figure out why he developed it. At best he'd be on thinners for 3 months but it'll all depend on why he got it in the first place.

11-22-2018, 11:30 PM	#71
FusionX Powerplay Quarterback Join Date: Sep 2009 Exp:	That sucks to hear about Stone, though I'd have to say I sort of forgot he was our 7th defenseman for a while there. In terms of blood clots, they can be serious and are taken seriously by physicians but it's not quite to the extent where people's lives are in danger necessarily all the time. The thing that makes it rough for pro atheletes is the fact that being on blood thinners makes contact sports a no go essentially while they're on it. Perhaps more importantly would be to figure out why people develop blood clots as there can be certain implications behind it but in Stone's case, as mentioned above, it could be due to compression as arm DVTs aren't nearly as common as leg ones. As for risks of having a blood clot, anything in the venous system (as all DVTs are, regardless of arms/legs), the concern isn't anything to do with the heart (well, not the left side anyways) or the brain actually but the lungs. All blood coming back to the heart passes first through the right heart and then the lungs before hitting the arterial system. As a result, the biggest concern is a pulmonary embolism or PE where it blocks off blood flow in the lungs which can be fatal in some circumstances. DVTs generally don't make it to the brain where indeed it could cause strokes unless there's a defect in the heart allowing it to bypass the lungs. Lastly, there are cases where an IVC filter could be put in to prevent clots from traveling to the lungs but that only works for leg DVTs as they're drained into the IVC where the filter goes. Stone's is in the arm so an IVC filter wouldn't work unfortunately. Also, filters really aren't used unless there's nothing else and only for as long as needed since they're a poor modality of prevention and cause lots of complications themselves. Anyways, I hope he's doing ok and they figure out why he developed it. At best he'd be on thinners for 3 months but it'll all depend on why he got it in the first place.