Injury Report: Off-season Injury Thread: Kris Letang News

[Waffle Fries]

Im asking why you are assuming he is at more risk to have issues with the blood clots by playing? I have no idea so he may or may not but you seem to be assuming he is so I'm asking if you have any basis for it.

When you've had blood clots, it increases your risk factor for more in the future. Other aspects of being a professional athlete add to the risk like the travel, trauma from being hit, if he has another injury that requires surgery etc..

The first one was caused by his knee injury. There didn't seem to be any clear explanation for the second.

Maybe the medications that the doctors are putting him on will help prevent it, but nothing will make me trust him to be honest. He's proven he'd risk his life for this sport.

 

[billybudd]

But Dupuis has had more than 1 and he hid the symptoms and tried to play through it (stupidly).

Flash has had, like, 10.

But yes, I can't believe his wife is okay with this.

 

[brewski420]

Totally aside from the salary cap issues this just seems to be very reckless and unnecessary for a man at this point in his career with children.

Hopefully he is getting advice from outside the Pens medical staff.

 

[MeticulouslyDishevel]

While I'm happy that the blood clot situation seems to be under control (albeit in ideal circumstances where he isn't travelling as much or playing a contact sport) i don't really want to see him back out on the ice.

 

[ObsessedCreative*]

Pascal Dupuis cleared to play!

FUDGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE more years of this stale team regressing. The Pttsburgh dodo birds ladies and gentelmen!

 

[Til the End of Time]

well i was wrong.

i dont understand how this is possible. he had one provoked and then one unprovoked dvt. the standard of care should be lifelong anticoagulation. he is genetically predisposed to clotting, almost certainly.

its possible they put a greenfield filter in his ivc which in theory catches clots after they break off from the veins in the leg but before they can go to the heart/lungs and cause a pulmonary embolus. but those filters are generally only reserved for people that have a contraindication to anticoagulation (ie recent surgery, history of bleeding into the brain, etc). i dont the desire to play hockey is a true contraindication to anticoagulation.

i wouldnt say this is a scandal or super outrageous, but this definitely goes against current standards of care for someone with recurrent dvts.

i even had a conversation with a former pens team physician about dupuis and his dvts a month or two ago. he raved about how much crosby and the team miss dupuis, but he also said he couldnt imagine dupuis ever playing again.

this is fairly strange.

 

[Rico Fatastic]

i dont understand how this is possible. he had one provoked and then one unprovoked dvt. the standard of care should be lifelong anticoagulation. he is genetically predisposed to clotting, almost certainly.

its possible they put a greenfield filter in his ivc which in theory catches clots after they break off from the veins in the leg but before they can go to the heart/lungs and cause a pulmonary embolus. but those filters are generally only reserved for people that have a contraindication to anticoagulation (ie recent surgery, history of bleeding into the brain, etc). i dont the desire to play hockey is a true contraindication to anticoagulation.

i wouldnt say this is a scandal or super outrageous, but this definitely goes against current standards of care for someone with recurrent dvts.

Your speculation appears to be incorrect. As per the Associated Press:

General manager Jim Rutherford said Thursday the blood clot has dissolved and that doctors say Dupuis can play, though he will continue to take blood-thinning medication.

It seems Dupuis's doctors have either discovered some mystical medication that reliably prevents DVT's without drastically increasing the risk of life-threatening injuries for someone playing a contact sport, or they've decided they're comfortable rolling the dice on this one. Hopefully it works out.

 

[WickedWrister]

well i was wrong.

i dont understand how this is possible. he had one provoked and then one unprovoked dvt. the standard of care should be lifelong anticoagulation. he is genetically predisposed to clotting, almost certainly.

its possible they put a greenfield filter in his ivc which in theory catches clots after they break off from the veins in the leg but before they can go to the heart/lungs and cause a pulmonary embolus. but those filters are generally only reserved for people that have a contraindication to anticoagulation (ie recent surgery, history of bleeding into the brain, etc). i dont the desire to play hockey is a true contraindication to anticoagulation.

i wouldnt say this is a scandal or super outrageous, but this definitely goes against current standards of care for someone with recurrent dvts.

i even had a conversation with a former pens team physician about dupuis and his dvts a month or two ago. he raved about how much crosby and the team miss dupuis, but he also said he couldnt imagine dupuis ever playing again.

this is fairly strange.

 

[Til the End of Time]

Your speculation appears to be incorrect. As per the Associated Press:


It seems Dupuis's doctors have either discovered some mystical medication that reliably prevents DVT's without drastically increasing the risk of life-threatening injuries for someone playing a contact sport, or they've decided they're comfortable rolling the dice on this one. Hopefully it works out.

playing on blood thinners? interesting.

i went to an expensive steak dinner by J and J on monday night to learn about xarelto, which is one of the newer blood thinners out there. there is no mystical anticoagulation out there-- even the newest stuff is not all that better than age old coumadin.

there is obviously a fine line between risk of bleeding vs risk of clotting. they are either placing him at risk for another clot by using some less effective blood thinner or he's on a fairly standard med/dose and he'll be at risk for bleeding.

i am not particularly familiar with sports medicine but this seems unusual to me. have players in other sports resumed their sport on blood thinners in the past? which players have had clots in the past? i know vokoun, and i think tomas fleischmann did also.

 

[Bennett Brauer]

Love that movie

 

[orby]

Good for Dupuis. I hope he can play a functional role on this team.

 

[Fordy]

this is just ridiculous

this team is gonna reap what it sows, once again. i sincerely hope that this doesn't turn out like it could

who can honestly claim that they think this guy should/CAN play 82 games of professional hockey, and then playoffs?? who?

 

[MtlPenFan]

Can't wait for the first line to get back together again!

 

[Waffle Fries]

Can't wait for the first line to get back together again!

That's the very least of my worries when it comes to this situation.

 

[terex]

playing on blood thinners? interesting.

i went to an expensive steak dinner by J and J on monday night to learn about xarelto, which is one of the newer blood thinners out there. there is no mystical anticoagulation out there-- even the newest stuff is not all that better than age old coumadin.

there is obviously a fine line between risk of bleeding vs risk of clotting. they are either placing him at risk for another clot by using some less effective blood thinner or he's on a fairly standard med/dose and he'll be at risk for bleeding.

i am not particularly familiar with sports medicine but this seems unusual to me. have players in other sports resumed their sport on blood thinners in the past? which players have had clots in the past? i know vokoun, and i think tomas fleischmann did also.

Kimmo Timonen has had repeated blood clot issues. He missed most of this season because of one, and has had at least one other issue with blood clotting in the past that caused him to miss time.

Here's an article from February about NHL players with DVT/blood clotting issues.

It states that once Timonen retires, he will be on blood thinners for the rest of his life. He won't be on the thinners while playing. Fleischmann gets treatment after practices and games and takes injections to control his condition.

 

[billybudd]

playing on blood thinners? interesting.

i went to an expensive steak dinner by J and J on monday night to learn about xarelto, which is one of the newer blood thinners out there. there is no mystical anticoagulation out there-- even the newest stuff is not all that better than age old coumadin.

there is obviously a fine line between risk of bleeding vs risk of clotting. they are either placing him at risk for another clot by using some less effective blood thinner or he's on a fairly standard med/dose and he'll be at risk for bleeding.

i am not particularly familiar with sports medicine but this seems unusual to me. have players in other sports resumed their sport on blood thinners in the past? which players have had clots in the past? i know vokoun, and i think tomas fleischmann did also.

Timonnen (sp?). There was another guy, but I'm not sure who it was. Want to say Nick Boynton, but I think that might have been diabetes.

 

[Son Goku]

Hope the guy doesn't hurt himself. Could be a good third line player. Let him show us what he's got left.

 

[Rico Fatastic]

playing on blood thinners? interesting.

i went to an expensive steak dinner by J and J on monday night to learn about xarelto, which is one of the newer blood thinners out there. there is no mystical anticoagulation out there-- even the newest stuff is not all that better than age old coumadin.

there is obviously a fine line between risk of bleeding vs risk of clotting. they are either placing him at risk for another clot by using some less effective blood thinner or he's on a fairly standard med/dose and he'll be at risk for bleeding.

i am not particularly familiar with sports medicine but this seems unusual to me. have players in other sports resumed their sport on blood thinners in the past? which players have had clots in the past? i know vokoun, and i think tomas fleischmann did also.

The article terex posted says that Tomas Fleischmann takes injections to control his clotting disorder. Is it possible he takes heparin because of its short half life and discontinues it a few hours before games so its effects wear off? I'm not sure how quickly a person's clotting times return to normal after stopping heparin, but it's probably the best explanation I can work out.

 

[Joejosh999]

If I was on his medical team, I would have stepped down the moment it became clear he concealed life-threatening symptoms and tried to play through potentially fatal PE.

We can hope that the meds can keep him safe, but we know all we need to know about Pascal Dupuis.

He is willing to die to play this game, his wife and kids be damned.

 

[Human]

terrible... I mean Pascal is a nice guy and all, but his usage and his contract are toxic for the Pens... we need less players like him right now. how much wasted cap-space between Dupuis, Kunitz and Scuderi?

 

[Waffle Fries]

So it appears that he has not officially been cleared to play, although he has been cleared for contact.

It’s been a difficult two years for Dupuis and his family. There is a still a long road and many obstacles ahead for him to return to the ice. While it’s hard for him not to think about playing again, Dupuis is trying to remain as patient as possible.

“I’m a little anxious. It’s definitely something I’m looking forward to, but right now I have to take it one step at a time,†Dupuis said. “That’s what I’m doing over the summer with a different routine. But it’s a great time.â€

http://penguins.nhl.com/club/m_news.htm?id=770600

 

[Ogrezilla]

terrible... I mean Pascal is a nice guy and all, but his usage and his contract are toxic for the Pens... we need less players like him right now. how much wasted cap-space between Dupuis, Kunitz and Scuderi?

I can't get on board with all this unless he is significantly worse than he was last time he played. He's overpaid, but not ridiculously so. He was a much better player than Scuderi last we saw, and he was also better than the version of Kunitz we saw last year. He's also been used in a bottom 6 role for a significant portion of his career, including when he won the Cup here.

 

[Human]

I can't get on board with all this unless he is significantly worse than he was last time he played. He's overpaid, but not ridiculously so. He was a much better player than Scuderi last we saw, and he was also better than the version of Kunitz we saw last year. He's also been used in a bottom 6 role for a significant portion of his career, including when he won the Cup here.

really? maybe for other teams. for the Pens he played the most on Sid's wing.

he was a healthy scratch/4th liner back in the 2009 playoffs.

but yes, I guess I could live with him playing on the third line. still he is overpaid for the bottom six. my biggest fear is that they will try to force him in the top six.

 

[Ogrezilla]

really? maybe for other teams. for the Pens he played the most on Sid's wing.

he was a healthy scratch/4th liner back in the 2009 playoffs.

but yes, I guess I could live with him playing on the third line. still he is overpaid for the bottom six. my biggest fear is that they will try to force him in the top six.

he also played a significant portion of his career outside of Pittsburgh.

and my biggest fear is having Daniel Winnik on Sid's wing in the playoffs. Dupuis, flaws and all, would have been an upgrade for Sid each of the last two years.

 

[Human]

he also played a significant portion of his career outside of Pittsburgh.

yes, I edited my post. how is that relevant though?