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Suggest Treatment For Severe Pain In The Knees
Question: Hi I have an 95 year old Aunt who until 2 weeks ago was very XXXXXXX She had a sudden pain in her knee even though there was no injury to the knee. The pain was severe enough that she was to not be able to put weight on it, and we took her to an urgent care facility. They took xrays and told her she had arthritis and gave her prednisone to ease the pain. Today I took her to see an orthopedic specialist and he concurred with the original diagnosis and gave my aunt a cortisone shot in the knee. While the doctor was examining the knee I was surprised to see that both her legs had become very swollen and one leg the one that was hurting her was very red. The Doctor also noted this and advised her to keep her legs elevated. Since we got home she has been trying to keep her legs elevated as much as possible and she has also been trying to get up and move around to get her circulation flowing. However, a short time ago when she attempted to get up she experienced a pain across her chest that was so strong that it hurt her to move. I gave her aspirin for the pain, but I am concerned that she may be having a congestive heart failure episode. Can you please give me your opinion and advise.
Brief Answer:
She needs to go back to the ER- suggestions on possible cause
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thank you for asking at HealthcareMagic,
I carefully read your question and understand your concern.
In case of swollen red leg in elderly there are two main medical conditions to consider and rule out.
There is a need to consider cellulitis as the cause of it. This is a skin infection that is very common in elderly and can spread quickly so it needs good medical care and quick antibiotic use (oral or injection- the doctor will have to decide which is best in her case).
Another diagnosis to consider and rule out is deep vein thrombosis (DVT) - your aunt needs to have an ultrasound of the legs to rule this out. Normally every time a leg starts to hurt immediately and is swollen and red it is a good practice to have a doppler ultrasound of the leg to rule out deep vein thrombosis even if other diagnosis are more likely.
DVT might also cause blood clots to go in the lungs and cause severe chest pain and is in itself a medical emergency.
So to summarize I would say:
- Send your aunt back to the emergency room- she already has a new symptom (chest pain) that the doctors should know
- She needs a dopler ultrasound of her legs to rule out DVT- this should be done even though other diagnosis might seem more likely, DVT needs to be ruled out. D-Dimer might be a good blood test to be done to check for DVT. If the doctors are still not able to rule it out for sure and are still doughtfull they might order a CT scan of her chest- this is the best test to visualize the lungs.
- If doppler ultrasound of the legs is normal but the skin of the leg is red she will need to start antibiotics for cellulitis (oral or injecion, she might also need iv fluids- the doctor will decide on this)
- I would also recommend her to have a chest X-ray, CBC and a heart ultrasound as a routine check in cases of chest pain
I hope this is helpful and answers to your question but please feel free to contact me in case any more clarifications on this are needed.
I wish she will get better soon.
Kind regards
Dr Antoneta Zotaj
She needs to go back to the ER- suggestions on possible cause
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thank you for asking at HealthcareMagic,
I carefully read your question and understand your concern.
In case of swollen red leg in elderly there are two main medical conditions to consider and rule out.
There is a need to consider cellulitis as the cause of it. This is a skin infection that is very common in elderly and can spread quickly so it needs good medical care and quick antibiotic use (oral or injection- the doctor will have to decide which is best in her case).
Another diagnosis to consider and rule out is deep vein thrombosis (DVT) - your aunt needs to have an ultrasound of the legs to rule this out. Normally every time a leg starts to hurt immediately and is swollen and red it is a good practice to have a doppler ultrasound of the leg to rule out deep vein thrombosis even if other diagnosis are more likely.
DVT might also cause blood clots to go in the lungs and cause severe chest pain and is in itself a medical emergency.
So to summarize I would say:
- Send your aunt back to the emergency room- she already has a new symptom (chest pain) that the doctors should know
- She needs a dopler ultrasound of her legs to rule out DVT- this should be done even though other diagnosis might seem more likely, DVT needs to be ruled out. D-Dimer might be a good blood test to be done to check for DVT. If the doctors are still not able to rule it out for sure and are still doughtfull they might order a CT scan of her chest- this is the best test to visualize the lungs.
- If doppler ultrasound of the legs is normal but the skin of the leg is red she will need to start antibiotics for cellulitis (oral or injecion, she might also need iv fluids- the doctor will decide on this)
- I would also recommend her to have a chest X-ray, CBC and a heart ultrasound as a routine check in cases of chest pain
I hope this is helpful and answers to your question but please feel free to contact me in case any more clarifications on this are needed.
I wish she will get better soon.
Kind regards
Dr Antoneta Zotaj
Note: For further queries, consult a joint and bone specialist, an Orthopaedic surgeon. Book a Call now.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Remy Koshy
Answered by
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