Cardiac MRI

We received a follow-up phone call from Dr. Tarnoff regarding the pleural effusions in Riley's left chest. Tarnoff spoke with some of his colleagues at UCSF and decided that Riley should have a cardiac MRI before his next cardiology appointment in March. The MRI is a much less invasive procedure than a heart catheterizaiton. The downside is that Riley will need to be sedated by an anesthesiologist. We are hoping that they will not use the gas anesthesia that was used before his surgery last March.

There are three scenarios. One, if a clear picture of the vessels is obtained during the MRI and there are obstructions, they will attempt to correct them in the cath lab with stents. Two, if they cannot get a clear view (and that's a real possibility because of all of the wires and platinum coils), then we head to the cath lab as previously planned. Three, if they get a clear view and there are no obstructions in the lung vessels, then we avoid the cath lab altogether. At that point Tarnoff would put Riley on a short-term trial of steroids in an attempt to resolve the effusions.

For now, we're just hoping that the increased doses of lasix will do the trick, even though they continue to be a tremendous source of frustration.