Hospital bosses have admitted they "could have done a lot better" after a Blackpool dad died while waiting a scan to see if he had a blood clot.
Deep vein thrombosis is a medical condition that occurs when a blood clot forms in a deep vein. Treating a blood clot is typically done with blood-thinning medication but in brain tumour patients this has to be balanced with the potentially fatal risk of the tumour bleeding into his brain. However, Martin Hogg, Clinical Director for Oncology at the Cancer Centre in Preston, said the impact of treating the clot with anti-coagulants would likely be "far worse" than managing it conservatively but accepted that "the right conversations" weren't had with Darren and his family.
"Unfortunately very aggressive brain tumours are notorious for causing clots. We wouldn't advise using anti-coagulants in these tumours but we should have those conversations with the family."