gibbrn,

I can see why you are confused. When I went to the hospital with massive arm swelling (double its normal size) they first did an ultra sound which pretty much showed a clot. Then to be sure, they did an MRI (both non invasive), which indeed confimed I did have a blood clot in my subclavian vein. At which point I was sent to the hospital in Denver which was better equipped to deal with my issue. Early the next morning I had an angiogram, which showed without question that the subclavian vein was being pinched shut between my collar bone and 1st rib bone and muscles and was not allowing blood flow and therefor casued the clot. Then while they were in there with catheters and wires they did a thrombolysis (to desolve the clot). I had numberous angioplastys (a painful invasive process in which they again go in through the arm and try to blow the vein up with balloons) before having to have rib resection surgery a week and a half later.

The thrombolysis procedure was mentally the worst. First they ask you if you have a living will and then let you know that the procedure may not work or it may kill you - not somthing anyone ever wants to hear. They drug you up so you cant feel anything but they did not warn me what I would see on the big tv screens that are using. When I saw the clot break into a million pieces and shoot a million miles per hour in the direction of my heart and lungs - I thought it was all over! Ugh... One of the worst experiances of my life!

I guess since I have decent insurance, and they knew they would get paid, they put me through every test imaginable.