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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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What Causes Bruising At The Pacemaker Site For An Elderly Cancer Patient?

Hello Dr. Prabhakar,My father is 92, heart has been in AFib for several months, heart rate very rapid, 140, now a bruise at the pace maker site? there has been no trauma. Also, diagnosed with a terminal cancer, secondary in the lung.What could cause this bruising?
posted on Mon, 26 Dec 2016
Twitter Sun, 9 Apr 2017 Answered on
Twitter Mon, 10 Apr 2017 Last reviewed on
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General & Family Physician,  's  Response
Dear Sir,
I totally understand your concerns about your father s health.
The follwoing points should be taken into consideration.
1- Your father is most likely taking blood thinners due to his Afib which will increase the likelyhood of bruises and bleeding. But this should not be the expanation before ruling out more serious causes especially that he has cancer.
2- The possible reasons for the bruises might be a low platelet count thus a complete blood count must be done CBC. This might be also be due a problem with the coagulation cascade and thus PT/PTT must also be ordered.
3- According to the results of these tests we can assess more the reasons and give the right treatment.
Best regards
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What Causes Bruising At The Pacemaker Site For An Elderly Cancer Patient?

Dear Sir, I totally understand your concerns about your father s health. The follwoing points should be taken into consideration. 1- Your father is most likely taking blood thinners due to his Afib which will increase the likelyhood of bruises and bleeding. But this should not be the expanation before ruling out more serious causes especially that he has cancer. 2- The possible reasons for the bruises might be a low platelet count thus a complete blood count must be done CBC. This might be also be due a problem with the coagulation cascade and thus PT/PTT must also be ordered. 3- According to the results of these tests we can assess more the reasons and give the right treatment. Best regards